The Home Office has quietly released its consolidated “Immigration Rules archive: 9 December 2025 to 29 December 2025”, drawing a line under a hectic year of policy tweaks and confirming which amendments enter force from 30 December 2025.
Although described as an archive, the 1,400-page document is more than historical housekeeping. It provides the definitive, legally-binding text for rules laid in Parliament over the past three weeks—several of which carry commencement dates of 30 December or 1 January. Among the headline items are:
• the insertion of a visa requirement for nationals of Nauru;
• updated references to the new £31,300 general salary threshold for most Skilled Worker extension applications;
• technical changes to the Youth Mobility, Global Talent and Innovator Founder routes; and
• amendments that pave the way for full enforcement of the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme in February 2026.
Employers and travellers trying to keep pace with such last-minute rule changes can tap VisaHQ’s United Kingdom hub (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) for real-time visa requirements, tailored document checklists and end-to-end application handling—useful whether you are confirming the new Nauru visa restriction or recalculating Skilled Worker salary thresholds.
![Home Office publishes end-of-year Immigration Rules archive, confirming last-minute changes taking effect today]()
For immigration advisers, the archive is vital because it freezes the precise wording that case-workers must apply when considering applications lodged before any future Statement of Changes. Employers relying on sponsored talent should therefore download and store this version: if an application is delayed, officials will assess it against the rules in force on the date of submission—not against whichever iteration is current when a decision is made.
The timing matters. Many businesses have rushed to file “change-of-employer” Skilled Worker applications before the higher salary thresholds and stricter skill-level requirements bite fully on 1 January 2026. Any sponsor that misses today’s cut-off must now budget for the uprated pay floor and, in some cases, the new RQF 6 skill hurdle.
Finally, mobility managers should note that the archive foreshadows an accelerated move to digital permission-to-travel. Cross-references to eVisas and ETAs appear throughout the document, underscoring the government’s plan to retire physical BRP cards by the end of 2025 and make advance electronic clearance the norm for all non-British visitors by spring 2026.
Although described as an archive, the 1,400-page document is more than historical housekeeping. It provides the definitive, legally-binding text for rules laid in Parliament over the past three weeks—several of which carry commencement dates of 30 December or 1 January. Among the headline items are:
• the insertion of a visa requirement for nationals of Nauru;
• updated references to the new £31,300 general salary threshold for most Skilled Worker extension applications;
• technical changes to the Youth Mobility, Global Talent and Innovator Founder routes; and
• amendments that pave the way for full enforcement of the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme in February 2026.
Employers and travellers trying to keep pace with such last-minute rule changes can tap VisaHQ’s United Kingdom hub (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) for real-time visa requirements, tailored document checklists and end-to-end application handling—useful whether you are confirming the new Nauru visa restriction or recalculating Skilled Worker salary thresholds.
For immigration advisers, the archive is vital because it freezes the precise wording that case-workers must apply when considering applications lodged before any future Statement of Changes. Employers relying on sponsored talent should therefore download and store this version: if an application is delayed, officials will assess it against the rules in force on the date of submission—not against whichever iteration is current when a decision is made.
The timing matters. Many businesses have rushed to file “change-of-employer” Skilled Worker applications before the higher salary thresholds and stricter skill-level requirements bite fully on 1 January 2026. Any sponsor that misses today’s cut-off must now budget for the uprated pay floor and, in some cases, the new RQF 6 skill hurdle.
Finally, mobility managers should note that the archive foreshadows an accelerated move to digital permission-to-travel. Cross-references to eVisas and ETAs appear throughout the document, underscoring the government’s plan to retire physical BRP cards by the end of 2025 and make advance electronic clearance the norm for all non-British visitors by spring 2026.
