Cap on UK immigration

The new Conservative – Liberal government has announced that a cap on UK immigration is now official policy. The intention is to decrease net immigration by introducing an annual limit on the numbers of newcomers from outside of the European Union.

Details on how the cap is going to operate and whether it is going to apply to all immigration categories have not yet been revealed.

Criticism of the cap concentrates on the inflexibility of such a measure. If a limit is imposed on the total number of immigrants allowed to enter the United Kingdom in a year, it will not reflect the complexities of different UK immigration categories. For example in family migration (spouse, fiancé, unmarried partners and dependant relatives) there is a strong Human Rights element involved, namely Art 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights – the right to private and family life. It has been recognised by the UK judicature and by the European Court of Human Rights that effective immigration control is one of the legitimate aims which can be pursued by the states as long as any interference with family life is proportionate to those goals. It follows that the measures adopted by states to limit the influx of migrants into their territory must not break established family ties. It remains to be seen whether the immigration cap intended by the government will apply to family migration and how it will ensure that human rights infringements do not occur.

It has also been argued that a cap on skilled migration will affect businesses in the UK and the flexibility of the employment market. The government has acknowledged that current immigration policy addresses the shortage of skills on the UK labour market and proposes to increase the level of skills amongst “home” candidates. However, if the immigration cap is introduced in the coming months, it is very likely that it will cause a gap in the supply of skills which will not quickly be filled by training and development of current workforce. This concern has been expressed by the representatives of businesses in the UK, especially large international corporations.

Until a concrete proposal is released, immigration specialists can only speculate and guess how the cap is going to fit into the complex immigration system of the UK. The government might leave the employer-sponsored Tier 2 route outside of the reach of the cap, as arguably being the most suited to address labour shortages to fill particular posts. However, it has proved to be the least popular amongst employers, because it is time and cost ineffective, requires complex bureaucratic measures. It is therefore not suited to address the demands of the dynamic employment market of the UK, which values flexibility and responsiveness.

Education providers in the UK would suffer greatly if the number of overseas students allowed into the UK were reduced. Universities would probably seek to recover losses somewhere else, most probably by raising fees for home students. This would certainly not contribute to the planned improvement in the availability of skilled “home” labour as it would act as a deterrent to undertaking higher education courses.

The effect of limiting the total number of successful applications could cause a rush of applications made at the start of the “immigration year”. It is doubtful whether “first come first served” is the best way forward.