Hundreds of foreign prison officers working in England and Wales could lose their jobs and be forced to leave the UK following a recent visa rule change by Labour, governors and unions have warned.
More than 1,000 officers, mostly from African countries, are currently employed in UK prisons on skilled worker visas.
However, since July, new rules mean that any officer earning below £41,700 is no longer eligible for a visa renewal. Most officers are paid around £33,000, well below the new threshold.
The national chair of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), Mark Fairhurst, called the decision scandalous and accused the government of rushing it through to appear tough on immigration and win support from Reform UK.
“We’ve asked ministers to exempt prison officers, because without them, prisons will be harder to manage and morale will plummet. But they’ve refused. It’s disgraceful,” he said.
Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors’ Association, said members were shocked by the sudden change.
“Over 1,000 prison officers depend on skilled worker visas. Now we’re losing good people we’ve spent £10,000 each to train,” he warned.
The UK Prison Service has long struggled to recruit local staff and, in recent years relied heavily on overseas workers.
In 2024, over 700 Nigerians joined UK prisons, making up nearly a third of applicants. Ghana was the second-largest source of recruits.
The rule change, introduced on 22 July, has already caused distress for affected staff. The POA said one Nigerian-born officer who has worked at HMP Liverpool since February and lived in the UK with his family for three years has had his visa renewal rejected.
He now has only two months left to either find a new sponsor or return home with his wife and daughter.
