UK Border Agency to cap number of work permits granted to non-EU citizens
Expat dreams of fish-n-chips all but fried?
On 19 July 2010 the UK Border Agency introduced an interim measure to limit the number of non-EU citizen work permit applications accepted under the Tier 1 (General) and the Tier 2 (General) categories.
The cap directly effects non-EU expats who are highly skilled workers without a formal job offer looking to work in the UK, those with aspirations to come to the UK and begin their own business, and even those skilled workers who do have a formal job offer, but in a field with no employee shortages.
Student visas are not restricted by the temporary cap. Neither are intra-company transfers - where international companies move workers to the UK.
The government has instituted the temporary cap in an effort to avoid a rush of applicants trying to gain a UK work permit before permanent changes limiting migration levels are announced on 31 March 2011.
“Our overall aim is to bring net migration down to the tens of thousands a year rather than the hundreds of thousands a year it was under the Labour government," said Home Secretary Theresa May.
The UK government clearly believes it could be potentially devastated by the horrors of “overpopulation”. Namely that social and public service sectors will buckle and break under the pressure of so many migrants.
Rather than make much needed improvements to already existing infrastructure, or implement new measures to create an economic advantage from the diverse population entering the region, the government sees a need to make immigration an elitist principle; only available to the most privileged or to those willing to do the work that UK citizens can’t be bothered with.
The government cannot cap the number of migrants from inside the EU, who May said made up 52 per cent of immigrants according to the most recent figures.
Thus a committee has been established to research how limits for non-EU citizens can be appropriately set.
The points-based system that took effect in 2008 already has made it increasingly difficult for anyone but a small minority of the most highly skilled workers to enter the country. Government may continue this trend by allowing the new legislation to reach out to the brightest and the best – mainly those who come as entrepreneurs and investors, without job offers.
Considerations to limit the number of Certificates of Sponsor (CoS) employers can issue to expats, and reductions on the duration a work permit is valid for are changes that could also take effect come March 2011.
The overall goal of the new legislation looks to balance the number of people immigrating into Britain with number of Britons emigrating out. It’s looking more and more like potential expats looking to live in the United Kingdom in the near future should start searching the globe for alternative destinations.
► Read our Expat Arrivals Country Guide to Living and Working in the United Kingdom
On 19 July 2010 the UK Border Agency introduced an interim measure to limit the number of non-EU citizen work permit applications accepted under the Tier 1 (General) and the Tier 2 (General) categories.
The cap directly effects non-EU expats who are highly skilled workers without a formal job offer looking to work in the UK, those with aspirations to come to the UK and begin their own business, and even those skilled workers who do have a formal job offer, but in a field with no employee shortages.
Student visas are not restricted by the temporary cap. Neither are intra-company transfers - where international companies move workers to the UK.
The government has instituted the temporary cap in an effort to avoid a rush of applicants trying to gain a UK work permit before permanent changes limiting migration levels are announced on 31 March 2011.
“Our overall aim is to bring net migration down to the tens of thousands a year rather than the hundreds of thousands a year it was under the Labour government," said Home Secretary Theresa May.
The UK government clearly believes it could be potentially devastated by the horrors of “overpopulation”. Namely that social and public service sectors will buckle and break under the pressure of so many migrants.
Rather than make much needed improvements to already existing infrastructure, or implement new measures to create an economic advantage from the diverse population entering the region, the government sees a need to make immigration an elitist principle; only available to the most privileged or to those willing to do the work that UK citizens can’t be bothered with.
The government cannot cap the number of migrants from inside the EU, who May said made up 52 per cent of immigrants according to the most recent figures.
Thus a committee has been established to research how limits for non-EU citizens can be appropriately set.
The points-based system that took effect in 2008 already has made it increasingly difficult for anyone but a small minority of the most highly skilled workers to enter the country. Government may continue this trend by allowing the new legislation to reach out to the brightest and the best – mainly those who come as entrepreneurs and investors, without job offers.
Considerations to limit the number of Certificates of Sponsor (CoS) employers can issue to expats, and reductions on the duration a work permit is valid for are changes that could also take effect come March 2011.
The overall goal of the new legislation looks to balance the number of people immigrating into Britain with number of Britons emigrating out. It’s looking more and more like potential expats looking to live in the United Kingdom in the near future should start searching the globe for alternative destinations.
► Read our Expat Arrivals Country Guide to Living and Working in the United Kingdom
