LAWYERS have warned care bosses that the “clock is ticking” on visa applications for overseas workers.

Around a quarter of care workers in Scotland are thought to have come from abroad and are reliant on the sponsorship of an employer to remain. 

The system has come under fire in recent months from Unison Scotland, whose social care lead, Jennifer McCarey, slammed it for making workers “a target of racism and exploitation by social care companies.”

“Workers don’t feel they can speak out because their employer has power over their right to stay in the country. It’s a form of bonded labour,” Ms McCarey said.

That system tightened further in July when visa rule changes effectively ended overseas social care recruitment, with ongoing labour shortages spurring the Scottish government into ploughing £500,000 to bringing migrant workers displaced by the changes elsewhere in Britain to Scotland.

Employers can apply for an extension to workers’ visas under transitional arrangements in place until July 22 2028, but immigration lawyer and partner at Lindsay’s Gurjit Pall warned: “Care providers simply cannot afford to lose good people.

“Almost three years may sound like a long time in terms of staffing. But, given the difficulties of recruiting in social care, our advice would be to take steps to retain good people as quickly as possible after recruiting them if they are foreign nationals.

“Care providers do not want to be in a position close to the deadline in 2028, where they are part of a bottleneck of businesses seeking permission for staff to stay in the UK, potentially risking them having to leave if they are not registered in time.

“Staffing problems in the sector would only deepen if that were the case.”