Immigration rules under recent amendment will directly impact patients accessing dental care, warns the British Dental Association (BDA). It is expected that the recruitment and retention of dental teams will suffer immensely due to this.
Over 100 occupations will no longer be able to access the immigration system due to not meeting the skill-level requirement, including some within the dental industry such as dental hygienists, dental technicians, and dental nurses.
As published by The Dentist, in just six months – from quarter four of 2024 to quarter one of 2025 – 100 applicants sought dental nursing visas and 88 sought medical and dental technician visas.
According to the updated Appendix Skilled Occupations of the Statement of Changes in Immigrations Rules, it will no longer be possible to offer new sponsorship for multiple key dental roles.
Those that were granted skilled worker status prior to the 22nd July 2025 with the same code permissions will be permitted. From this date, only existing visa holders with continuous skilled worker status may continue or extend their visas. As explained by Dentistry, specific situations of exclusion to the new rule include those that wish to:
The UK government has stated that this will mark a “fundamental shift in the UK’s approach to immigration”. Eddie Crouch, the BDA chair, stated that “Changes to immigration rules for skilled dental team members risks deepening an access crisis already felt by millions.”
An open letter signed by Crouch, to home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and health secretary Wes Streeting, expresses the alarming concerns surrounding the propositions and the consequences that many fear will come of the changes.
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