UK Immigration Update | The MAC publishes recommendations to tighten the Tier 2 Skilled Worker Visa Routes to reduce Non-EU Migration

Posted: 20/01/2016 Author: Sindoor Jha

UK Immigration Update | The MAC publishes recommendations to tighten the Tier 2 Skilled Worker Visa Routes to reduce Non-EU Migration

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) have released their review of the Tier 2 visa category after being commissioned by the UK Government to address concerns about the increasing number of migrants using this visa route.

Tier 2 is the primary route for economic migration to the UK.

The Tier 2 category consists of the four following routes: Tier 2 (General), Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer), Tier 2 (Minister of Religion) and Tier 2 (Sportsperson).

The MAC report titled; Review of Tier 2: Balancing migrant selectivity, investment in skills and impacts on UK productivity and competitiveness, was asked to address the following five issues:

* solutions to prioritise applications under Tier 2 to ensure maximum benefit for the UK;

* applying a skills levy (immigration skills charge) to businesses employing non-EEA migrants;

* how to tighten the intra-company transfer route;

* whether jobs should be automatically removed from the shortage occupation list;

* restricting dependants' access to the UK labour market.

The MAC found that in order for the UK Government to achieve their goal of reducing / restricting the number of migrants coming to the UK on a Tier 2 visa and prioritising highly skilled migrants is through price.

The Chair of MAC, Professor Sir David Metcalf CBE comments in the report that;

'Skilled migrant workers make important contributions to boosting productivity and public finances, but this should be balanced against their potential impact on the welfare of existing UK residents.

Raising the cost of employing skilled migrants via higher pay thresholds, and the introduction of an Immigration Skills Charge, should lead to a greater investment in UK employees and reduce the use of migrant labour.'

A summary of MAC's recommendations:-

1. Raise the minimum salary threshold of £20,800 to £30,000 to reflect the current degree skill requirement (NQF6+) for the Tier 2 visa category. The MAC acknowledge that the new proposed threshold is significantly higher than the minimum salary of migrants working in healthcare and teaching. Therefore, they have suggested that their recommendation is phased in and not implemented immediately.

2. Introduction of an Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) - Imposing a skill levy on businesses recruiting migrant workers. The idea is that the revenue collected from charges will go towards training individuals in the UK and increase their skills in the domestic job sector. In turn, this will decrease the number of migrant workers in the UK.

3. A separate route for applicant's who currently use the Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) for

third-party contracting. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the salary threshold should be increased to £41,500.

4. In relation to the Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) route; the Committee stated that the required amount of prior experience the employee has with the employer should increase from 12 months to 2 years. This does not apply to the graduate trainee or skills transfer route.

5. There should be regular reviews of the jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) to ensure that the jobs are still indeed in shortage. Employers would be required to provide evidence to prove the need for such skills in their industry and if the jobs have been on the SOL for a while, employers would have to show what they have been doing to prevent the shortage.

6. The MAC believe that restrictions should not be applied to dependants' right to work.

The UK government are expected to consider these recommendations, upon announcement of the new statement of changes which are due in April 2016.

Santa Fe Immigration Services Team will continue to keep you updated on the latest immigration developments.

Should you have questions, please contact:

Sindoor Jha
Immigration Coordinator
Santa Fe Relocation Services
Tel : +44 (0)203 457 3595
E-mail: sindoor.jha@SantaFeRelo.com

Nishil Patel
Senior Manager
Santa Fe Relocation Services
Tel : +44 (0)20 8961 4141
E-mail: nishil.patel@SantaFeRelo.com

Santa Fe Group A/S issued this content on 2016-01-20 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 2016-01-20 10:43:08 UTC

Original Document: http://www.santaferelo.com/news-and-blog/UK-Immigration-Update-The-MAC-publishes-recommendations-to-tighten-the-Tier-2-Skilled-Worker-Visa-Routes-to-reduce-Non-EU-Migration-