Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to exclude (a) dentists and (b) dental nurses from the cap on Tier 2 visas.

On 6 July 2018, an Immigration Rules change to the Tier 2 (General) cap came into effect, to address particular pressures facing the NHS.

This change exempted doctors and nurses from the cap and freed up more spaces for other sponsored high-skilled occupations, including dentists. Since this exemption, no dentist has been refused a Tier 2 (General) place and the cap has not been breached. There are no current plans to make further changes to the operation of the Tier 2 cap within the current immigration system.