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The first major change to reduce immigration into the UK has been delivered today, as the government's new annual limit comes into force.

This, along with radical changes recently introduced to the student route and plans to tackle permanent settlement, will see net migration fall back down to the tens of thousands.

Under the annual limit, employers will be able to bring only 20,700 people from outside the EU to work in skilled professions under Tier 2 (General) of the points-based system. A further 1,000 visas will be made available to people of 'exceptional talent', to ensure that Britain remains open to the brightest and the best.

The 1,000 exceptional talent visas will be given to those who experts believe will make the biggest contribution to science and the arts in the UK.

To ensure that only those with the skills we need can come to the UK to work, prospective workers will need to have a graduate-level job offer, speak an intermediate level of English and meet specific salary and employment requirements. Those earning a salary of £150,000 or more will not be subject to the limit.

The Intra Company Transfer route (ICT), which is not part of the annual limit, will also be changed in 3 ways:

Also, from today, Tier 1 of the points-based system will be restricted to all but entrepreneurs, investors and people of exceptional talent as the old Tier 1 (General) category has been completely abolished due to widespread evidence of abuse.

The 'Exceptional Talent' route will be open to current and prospective leaders in the fields of science, engineering and the arts and will allow us to continue to facilitate those who have the most to offer the UK.

Under the new visa rules for investors, those who invest large sums of money will see their right to settle permanently in the UK speed up. Those who invest £5 million will be allowed to settle here after 3 years, and those investing £10 million or more will be allowed to settle after 2 years. This compares with the minimum 5-year requirement that is currently in place. Entrepreneurs will also be able to settle in the UK more quickly, if they create 10 jobs or turn over £5 million in a 3-year period.

In addition to these changes, new rules for settlement and asylum will also come into effect today.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has today recommended that 8 job titles be removed from the UK shortage occupation list.

This follows the MAC's recommendation last month that 71 occupations be removed from the list of occupations that qualify for Tier 2 of the points-based system. This is to meet the government's objective of raising the skill level of Tier 2 to National Qualifications Framework level 4 and above (NQF4+).

To bring the shortage occupation list into line with the rest of Tier 2 the MAC has recommended removing job titles including high integrity pipe welder, skilled meat boner and skilled meat trimmer and skilled senior care worker. The latter recommendation will not, however, affect care home managers and nurses working in care homes as these occupations are level NQF4+.

Some job titles are recommended for amendment. The MAC found that only a small proportion of chefs are skilled to NQF4+. Chef jobs on the list are, therefore, recommended to be restricted to those requiring a minimum of 5 years relevant experience and paying at least £28,260 per year.

'Placing limits on migration requires that we are far more selective and ensure only highly skilled migrant workers can come to work in the UK.

'For instance, only the top 5% of chef jobs will be open to Tier 2 workers under these recommendations as a result of a more stringent earnings threshold.'

The MAC estimates these recommendations, if accepted, will mean Tier 2 applicants coming into the country via the shortage occupation route will only be eligible for approximately 230,000 jobs (less than 1 per cent of the labour market), down from 1 million jobs when the MAC produced its first shortage occupation list in 2008. The combined impact of these recommendations plus those made by the MAC last month will be that the proportion of jobs in the UK labour market at a skill level eligible for Tier 2 will fall from 56% to 39%.

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16 February 2011

New details of the government's radical changes to the work visa route were unveiled by the Home Office today, as it laid out the criteria for its annual limit.

This shake up is part of the government's new annual limit on non-EU workers, which will take effect on 6 April. At the end of last year the Home Office announced that 20,700 visas will be made available to skilled workers applying through Tier 2 of the points-based system, as well as 1,000 visas under a new exceptional talent route.

Under the new system, employers will have to apply for a certificate of sponsorship from the UK Border Agency for a specific post if they wish to bring someone to the UK - this is a change from the current system which gives businesses an annual allocation.

The government has also announced that employers filling a vacancy that attracts a salary of £150,000 or more will not be subject to the limit on the number of certificate of sponsorship that may be allocated.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said:

'Britain needs to attract the brightest and the best to fill jobs gaps but this should never be at the expense of workers already here.

'We have worked closely with businesses while designing this system, and made it clear employers should look first to people who are out of work and who are already in this country.

'And those that do come here to work must know that we intend to make the route to settlement tougher. It can not be right that people coming to fill temporary skills gaps have open access to permanent settlement.'

The annual limit of 20,700 certificate of sponsorship will be divided into 12 monthly allocations. Due to the likely demand in the first month, 4,200 certificate of sponsorship will be made available in April. After that the limit will be set at 1,500 places per month. Any places that are unused each month will be rolled over to the following month.

In the event that the monthly allocation is over subscribed, certificate of sponsorship applications will be ranked using a points system designed to favour jobs on the shortage occupation list, scientific researchers and those with a higher salary. Once a certificate of sponsorship has then been granted to an employer it must be assigned to the prospective employee within 3 months.

Workers from outside the EU who want to come to the UK will need to have a graduate level job, speak an intermediate level of English, and meet specific salary and employment requirements.

The intra-company transfer route, which is not part of the annual limit, will also be changed in 3 ways:

the job will have to be in an occupation on the graduate occupation list;
only those paid £40,000 or more will be able to stay for more than a year. They will be granted for 3 years with the possibility of extending for a further 2; and
those paid between £24,000 and £40,000 will be allowed to come to the UK for no longer than 12 months, at which point they must leave and will not be able to re-apply for 12 months.

Mr Green added:

'Britain will benefit from migration provided it is controlled and directed towards improving our economy.

'I am not seeking zero or negative net migration. Our aim is to reduce the level of migration down to the levels of the 1990s - tens of thousands each year, not hundreds of thousands.'

Imran Khan at the Campaign for Science and Engineering, said:

'I'm delighted that the government, and the UK Border Agency in particular, have listened to our concerns. They've responded with a package that rewards people who want to come and invest their intellectual capital in this country. I think we can see this as an important victory for the science and engineering sector.'

Although today's statement of intent is not definitive - as the rules will be subject Parliamentary scrutiny - it is intended to provide migrants and employers with enough information to make effective plans.

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Last week the UK Border Agency announced a shake-up of the Tier 2 shortage occupations list, with large numbers of jobs being disqualified as the government sets to raise the qualification entry level to NQF 4.

In November, the government announced plans to raise the minimum skill level for jobs under Tier 2 from National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 3 to graduate level. In December the government asked the MAC to advise on the following two questions:

1. What standard occupational classification (SOC) codes should be considered as graduate level occupations for the purposes of Tier 2 of the points-based system?

2. How should the current shortage occupation lists for the UK and Scotland be revised to remove jobs below graduate level?

The Committee was asked to use NQF level 4 and above as the benchmark for graduate level for this commission.

The Committee’s report detailing recommended NQF level 4 and above occupations for the purposes of Tier 2 was published on 7 February 2011. This answers question 1 above. A report addressing job titles on the shortage occupation list in occupations below graduate level (question 2) will be submitted to the government during February and published shortly afterwards. Source: UK Border Agency.

The long and the short of it is the UK Government are ‘raising the bar’ or entry level for workers who want to come here on a Tier 2 working visa.

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