Zaha Hadid Architects among UK studios calling for review of work visa rules

UK architects are demanding a review of changes in immigration rules that increased the minimum salary for skilled worker visas, leaving a reported 62 per cent of architecture studios unable to pay employees from overseas.

On behalf of a number of architecture studios, including Zaha Hadid Architects, Make and HTA Design, law firms Kingsley Napley and Bates Wells released a statement this week stating that the architecture industry has been negatively affected by immigration rule changes that took effect on 4 April 2024.

Minimum visa salary increased from £26,200 to £45,900

The statement urged Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to respond to a letter sent on 16 December 2024, which raised the studios' concerns about the skilled worker minimum salary being increased from £26,200 to £45,900 and the removal of architecture from the immigration salary list, formerly known as the shortage occupation list.

The studios called for architects to be returned to the immigration salary list, which would reduce the minimum salary threshold, and for the independent public body Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the impact of the visa rule changes on architecture studios, claiming that the current rules are restricting growth in the architecture sector.

UK architecture dependent on recruiting "architects with the highest level of design skills"

"Changes to the skilled worker salary thresholds have introduced challenges in recruiting and retaining staff of the appropriate experience and calibre," said Zaha Hadid Architects chief executive Mouzhan Majidi in the statement.

"The continued global success of the UK's architecture sector depends on being able to recruit architects with the highest level of design skills and experience," he continued.

"We entirely support the proposal to return architects to the immigration salary list and allow the MAC to undertake a call for evidence."

According to the statement, the current minimum salary for sponsored workers to be eligible for a visa does not align with typical architecture salary bands. The RIBA 2024 Architects Salary Report states that the average salary for a newly qualified architect in the UK is £36,000, which is below the current £45,900 requirement for workers from overseas.

Ahead of sending the letter to Cooper, Kingsley Napley and Bates Wells conducted a survey of 70 UK architecture studios, which found that 62 per cent of respondents could not pay the updated minimum salaries required for overseas workers. This compares to 91 per cent of respondents saying they have previously sponsored overseas talent.

The survey also found that 77 per cent of participants expect their migrant workforce to reduce as a result of the immigration rule changes.

Current overseas workers "unsure how they will stay in the UK"

Make HR manager Camilla Rich said that the visa rule changes have made the future of current foreign workers uncertain.

"Removing architects from the immigration salary list without any consultation with the sector meant that we had to adapt to the changes quickly, which has left our currently sponsored employees unsure how they will be able to stay in the UK after their current visas expire," Rich said.

"Seeing the sector return to the immigration salary list would help us resolve some of these issues almost immediately."

HTA Design partner Caroline Dove added that limiting the hiring of foreign workers in architecture studios undermines the Labour government's ambitious housing goals.

"Labour has set out an ambitious target of 1.5 million more homes, and there is an urgent need for skilled multi-disciplinary teams to design and deliver them," she said.

"There are simply not enough architects and landscape architects to do this vital work, and it is extraordinary that we should be excluding international architectural graduates and qualified professionals – who have studied here and been trained in UK standards – because the salary threshold has suddenly been raised so high," Dove continued.

"It is counter-productive to the growth agenda to deter highly talented young architects and landscape architects coming here from overseas, bringing their creativity, diversity, and energy to get Britain building."

At Dezeen we recently carried out our own architecture and design workplace survey, which found that a fifth of people globally are expecting to leave the field soon.

Based on the findings, we reported on the profession's "broken" workplace culture and poor job satisfaction.

Photo by Ryan Ancill via Unsplash.

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