Immigration Rules To Be Tightened

[vinny]

Crackdown on skilled migrants 'to help UK jobless'

[iceman010899]

Yes well we saw this coming, it was about to happen some time.

Would this include current WP holders due for an exension being refused ?

I guess this excludes EU citizens because according to EU law they are treated as Brits in the job market.

Under current rules employers are required to prove they interviewed EU/Brits and placed the job advert on all media for six months. It would be the same this time as well unless they change immigration rules.

[Generalisimus]

Yes well we saw this coming, it was about to happen some time.

Would this include current WP holders due for an exension being refused ?

I guess this excludes EU citizens because according to EU law they are treated as Brits in the job market.

Under current rules employers are required to prove they interviewed EU/Brits and placed the job advert on all media for six months. It would be the same this time as well unless they change immigration rules.

I don't think they will mandate an automatic refusal of WP applications under Tier 2. Instead, they might simply increase the red tape that needs to be completed by prospective employers in order to take on someone under Tier 2. Also, I don't think that Tier 1 applications would be affected at all, as Tier 1 can be obtained without a job offer. Therefore, one might argue that Tier 1 immigrants help increase the competitiveness of the UK job market and thereby help boost productivity of the overall economy, which then results in higher living standards in the long run. Tier 2 category is slightly different, as one could presume that recruitment agencies focused on overseas candidates are more efficient at what they do (due to elevated fees structures) than the ones focused only on those not requiring work permit (Job Centres operated by civil servants), which may result in EEA nationals being replaced by not much better qualified non-EEA workers due to the latter using superior information sources. I personally don't buy into this, but that's what they may be hinting at.

[Frontier Mole]

Tier 1 general is the easiest one to deal with. All they have to do is put up the earning bands to exclude a higher percentage of applications. That could be done overnight. Let’s start lowest band at £50K and that would sort out tier 1 very quickly!

Tier 2 is far harder to manage as there are only two roles that come with a fixed minimum hourly rate. Chefs & Snr Care Workers. (Excluding the minimum legal rate before anyone jumps up and down!)
I guess what they could do is just suspend tier 2 as they have already done with tier 3...... now that would be radical!

[jei2]

They might not have to suspend anything. A lot of potential Tier 2s, chefs and care-workers in particular, are looking elsewhere - even the ones already here.

The problem is that a reduction in overseas migrants could result in a spin-off loss of a few billion £pa for the UK.

With the outcome being staff losses in UKBA and related non-government sectors...? (But you'll be fine FM!).

Not sure if we'd be seeing checks and balances or a domino effect.

[Frontier Mole]

With the outcome being staff losses in UKBA and related non-government sectors...? (But you'll be fine FM!).

Give me the redundancy package any day! PWC offered me double my current salary to do the same stuff as I do now. That role plus a nice farewell handshake from UKBA and I would be over the wall shouting the odds at UKBA tomorrow.

Sorry boss

[PaperPusher]

If they do change PBS to restrict new applicants, it won't just help British people, but all those on HSMP, Tier 1 Gen, PSW and so on.

The advertising requirement has been there, well, forever. What is new is that employers appear to be required to advertise at the JC+. I guess we all know where to look for those high flying jobs now!

I think the reason they are insisting on the Jobcentre is because the Jobcentre knows how many people request the details through them. If 100 request the details, it seems clear that there may be a pool of labour out there, perhaps they are also less likely to lie so that the owner's mate can get a work permit.

Apart from that, unless there is a radical change announced, it is more of the same old same old.

[apply4hsmp]

Well they just dont get it, job losses is not because of immigrants, but because of global turmoil.

Immigrants just fill the gap where there are shortages in getting local talent to do the same work.

Basically they want the immigrants for all the good reasons but when its crunch time, they want the immigrants to be shown the door forgetting if all immigrants leave, Britain's progress would literally halt.

And this is a global phenomena, Knowledge workers will move where they get good opportunities and a good life whether UK or not, they will move.

I know it is easier said than done and everybody is after vote banks and short term issues(aka credit crunch) that migrants take a back seat.

Just wonder, how such seasoned politicians, come with ideas of "crackdown". Its appalling.

[paulmu]

Labour is taking a knee-jerk reaction based on the current state of the British economy. They are realising that quite a number of brits have emigrated abroad for a better lifestyle and better climes, but also that many more might want to do this for economic reasons now that the situation here is getting from bad to awful.
An ideal destination would be Australia where at least the banks haven't needed any bail-out money and the most pessimistic forcast is for a 'mild' recession!
The big question is, will this stop more brits from emigrating abroad? Possibly. Possibly not! In any event, it is not a welcoming decision for highly-skilled migrants if implemented.

[PaperPusher]

This isn't about showing immigrants the door in my opinion, but not letting new people join schemes. Why should more people come to the UK on work routes when there are 10,000s of redundencies, many of them skilled workers and professionals, and in case you forgot, many of them recent immigrants.