As many as 300 London Underground staff are at risk of being deported after changes to immigration rules, it is feared.
The revelation came as Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the biggest Tube union, the RMT, called for the new rules to be suspended pending the publication of advice from the Migration Advisory Committee that is due next year.
More than 100 union activists, led by Mr Dempsey, mounted a protest outside the Home Office on Wednesday morning. MPs John McDonnell and Zarah Sultana also attended the demonstration, while Diane Abbott tweeted her support.
Solidarity with the @RMTunion.
— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) September 17, 2025
Deportations are a union issue. https://t.co/HzUQwyJEyg
Mr Dempsey said that 63 RMT members working for London Underground were facing deportation – some as early as November.
But Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the TSSA union, estimated the total could be as high as 300 Tube staff – mostly people working at Tube stations as customer service assistants.
Mr Dempsey told the protesters: “This is a really serious situation. We have got members working for Transport for London who are facing deportation in a few short weeks’ time.”
The Standard broke the news in July that dozens of RMT members were at risk of losing their jobs and being deported due to the change in the rules on which roles were classed as “skilled” and given special immigration status.
On Wednesday, Mr Dempsey accused the former Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, of making a “knee-jerk decision” toughening the rules on how long foreign-born workers can remain in the UK, in response to growing political pressure from Nigel Farage’s Reform party over rising immigration levels.
The new rules increased salary thresholds for visa sponsorship to £41,700 a year for new applicants and removed key transport roles, including station assistant, from the “skilled worker” list - meaning it is harder for some foreign workers to remain in the UK.
Many TfL station staff began their employment on the London Underground on two-year graduate visa schemes believing they could move into skilled worker positions.
Mr Dempsey said the Government had changed the rules at “breakneck speed” via statutory instrument – meaning there was no debate in Parliament or proper scrutiny.
He said the TfL workers at risk had been initially employed on student visas but were subsequently given permanent contracts of employment.
He said: “Our members were employed with the full expectation that they would become full British citizens and would be staying here. They have brought their families, and bought their homes here. Now they could be forced to leave.
“This is unfair. We are not for open borders. We are for a fair migration policy – one that is humane and fair and treats people properly. This doesn’t meet that test.
“So what we are calling for, as a bare minimum, is that this should be paused until the Migration Advisory Committee can finish its work. There should be transitional arrangements put in place.”
Mr Dempsey added: “They’re hard-working Londoners. They’re moving the city. They are RMT members.
“I don’t give a monkey’s where you are from… whether you have been here 10 minutes, 10 years or [since] 1066.
“They are proper people doing a job here in London. They were given a clear indication that they would be here permanently. They have made their lives here and we say they should be allowed to stay here.”
TSSA general secretary Ms Eslamdoust attended the demonstration with a union member who had worked as a Tube station assistant for three years, but who had discovered his salary was too low to meet the new threshold. “For the sake of £1, he could lose his job,” she said.
“In July, arbitrarily, they changed the salary threshold – they raised it significantly. These people are no longer eligible to remain.
“People have come here in good faith. They have their families here. They pay their taxes. But now overnight they are facing deportation.”
She said many Tube workers were too “scared” to come forward to seek help.
The station worker, who asked not to be named, has not been contacted by the Home Office but knows that unless he is able to obtain further sponsorship from TfL then his visa will expire, meaning he will not have a legal right to remain in the UK.
The TSSA wants TfL to increase the salaries of station staff to help them meet the new immigration rules, and for the Government to put transport workers back in the skilled workers category.
Elly Baker, the Labour transport spokeswoman on the London Assembly, attended the protest to “stand in solidarity” with workers caught in “arbitrary changes” to the immigration system.
She said: “As a Labour movement, if we lose our sense of fairness we have nothing.
“We should not let decisions about our colleagues’ lives and jobs, and how we run our transport system, be made by kneejerk responses to attacks on immigration made by Right-wing politicians.
“We should be exposing this for what it is – short-termist politics and an unfeeling attitude.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Immigration White Paper sets out a comprehensive strategy to restore order to our immigration system. It links immigration policy with skills and visa frameworks to strengthen the domestic workforce, reduce dependency on overseas labour, and boost economic growth.
“Under this approach, every sector will be required to implement a workforce strategy focused on training British workers, or risk losing access to the immigration system, as part of wider efforts to reinforce the integrity of the points-based system and end dependence on lower-skilled international recruitment.”
