Govt slashes skilled migrants quota

Tuesday 9th September 2008

An independent panel has recommended the government cut its planned number of migrants from outside Europe for occupations with skills shortages by 30 per cent.

The migration advisory committee (MAC), which first met in December last year, has published its final proposals for overhauling the current list of skilled occupations where a major skills gap currently exists.

It recommends cutting the number of jobs covered by the list from one million to 700,000 but brings in more flexible and larger sets of work categories.

The MAC, an independent panel of economists, also defines "more tightly" which positions come under the tier two category, which puts pressure on employers to look for British jobseekers to fill the gap before turning to migrants.

Tier two is effective from November and will require employers to prove they cannot find British workers to fill the role before recruiting from outside Europe.

Those who do enter the country under tier two regulations must have a "good grasp" of English, have prospective earnings of at least £24,000 or a good qualification and be able to support themselves for their first month in Britain.

Immigration minister Liam Byrne said the government would be "pressure-testing" the MAC's proposals before the final tier two list is published next month.

"Our tough new points system plus our plans for newcomers to earn their citizenship will reduce overall numbers of economic migrants coming to Britain and the numbers awarded permanent settlement," he said.

"Crucially, the points system means only the migrants with the skills Britain needs can come - and no more. Unlike made-up quotas, this stops government cutting business off from the skills it needs when they need them."

Outspoken Labour rebel Frank Field hit out at the MAC's findings, however, a day after his all-party parliamentary group called for tighter immigration controls.

Mr Field said the "fundamental weakness" of the government's immigration policy was a failure to name a precise figure on the number of acceptable migrants.

"For all the government’s talk, without a limit its point based system is pretty pointless," he said in a joint statement with Conservative MP Nicholas Soames.

"It's time we break the link between giving permission to come and work here, and giving permission to people to settle here permanently. That’s why it's time for a policy of balanced migration."

The government's points-based system uses five tiers, from highly skilled migrants (tier one) to primarily non-economic visitors (tier five). Tier one was introduced in February this year, while tier five is set to be introduced this November alongside tier two.

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