http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/ ... 2934/cs/1/
A large group of Indian, Asian and African professionals and their families are to have a court hearing next week over their bid to block changes to the terms of their stay in Britain.
About 50,000 people, at risk of being asked to leave the country, have launched the court bid on the grounds of a government order that made retrospective changes to the criteria under which skilled non-European Union immigrants were allowed to live and work in Britain.
As of Saturday, skilled immigrants who are already in Britain under HSMP visas, have to prove that they are earning at least 40,000 pounds a year and were below 32 years of age when they applied for their visas; conditions that were not originally listed.
HSMP visa holders who started coming to Britain in 2002 now have to reapply under the PBS and have to score a minimum 75 points, awarded on the basis of salary, age, qualification and ability to speak English, in order to be allowed to stay on and work in Britain.
Lawyers will also argue that the 40,000-pound earning criterion is discriminatory because ethnic minorities tend to find it more difficult than Whites to obtain jobs with high salaries.