A Government committee has suggested that more should be done to protect British job seekers through changes to Tier 2 of the Points Based System (PBS).
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) have analysed Tier 2 of the points-based system, before making a number of recommendations. Tier 2 allows companies that are unable to find employees with the required job skills in the UK to recruit people from overseas. The report is the first to review the progress of the PBS in controlling immigration. The Home Office commissioned the report in February 2008, to determine if the Tier 2 visa system in place needed further tightening to counter the decline in the UK’s employment levels.
69,000 foreign workers arrived in the UK in 2008 to undertake work permit employment. With the introduction of Tier 2, the replacement to the UK work permit system, this number is expected to decline to 50,000 in 2009. The majority of Tier 2 visa holders come from the US, Australia, and India.
The committee would like to see this figure drop a further 10%, by ensuring that there are no incentives within Tier 2 that either reduce the employment levels or the skill sets of UK workers. However, the benefits of foreign workers in drawing investment and commercial partnerships into the UK’s economy were recognised.
The committee’s chairman, Professor David Metcalf, recognises that the Tier 2 visa system is working effectively. Nevertheless, the MAC has recommended that the minimum salary requirement to qualify for a Tier 2 visa be increased to £20,000, where the employee has relevant qualifications, and £32,000 in cases where they do not. The current limits, which are notably lower, may allow UK employers to undercut local workers. Alternative salary structures that allow companies to pay low wages overseas, and top up workers salary with tax-free allowances in the UK, resulting in lower costs to companies recruiting non-EU workers should also be addressed.
Professional qualifications equivalent to degree level or NVQ level 3 should count towards applicants’ Tier 2 points totals. The committee has also recommended that the required time a job position must be advertised be doubled. Job positions must be advertised to EU workers for up to 2 weeks under the current Tier 2 rules, before an employer can apply to recruit a foreign worker.
The rules in place for intra-company transfers should also be reinforced, in addition to an increase in the penalties for abuse of the PBS sponsor licence arrangements, to reduce the possibility of future abuse of the Tier 2 visa system. Furthermore, the qualifying period of employment with a company should be increased to 12 months for intra-company transfer applications. The current requirement is 6 months.
Restricting the path to UK citizenship for Tier 2 visa holders has also been suggested. Finally, a new category recognising key public workers should be introduced. The MAC’s chairman would like to see the changes above in place until there is a clear economic recovery in the UK.
A Conservative Party spokesman confirmed, in response to the report, that a Conservative Government would take the system one step further by introducing a cap on the number of non-EU workers allowed into the UK each year. EU workers are not affected by either the existing Tier 2 visa regime, or any planned changes, as EU nationals are allowed to work in the UK freely without restriction, or a visa.
The Home Office had initially commissioned the report to explore an argument to restrict Tier 2 to skill-shortage occupations only, but the committee has suggested that the recession does not justify such a drastic change, which would reduce the numbers of Tier 2 visa holders substantially. In fact, there are now thousands more non-EU visa holders leaving the UK than arriving. Drastic measures to reduce the number of Tier 2 visa holders further are simply not justified.
These suggestions will now be considered by the Home Office.
