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Immigration salary threshold should drop by £4,400, says committee Migrant salary threshold fall 'would boost public sector'
(about 2 hours later)
The government should drop the salary threshold for immigrants by more than £4,000, a committee has advised.The government should drop the salary threshold for immigrants by more than £4,000, a committee has advised.
Skilled migrants from outside the EU currently need to have a job offer with a minimum salary of £30,000.Skilled migrants from outside the EU currently need to have a job offer with a minimum salary of £30,000.
But the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said it should fall to £25,600 for all workers to help recruit teachers and skilled NHS staff.But the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said it should fall to £25,600 for all workers to help recruit teachers and skilled NHS staff.
The MAC also said the government's proposal for a points-based immigration system would reduce economic growth. The committee's chair also called Boris Johnson's proposal for a new points-based immigration system a "soundbite".
Mr Johnson led calls for the new system - based on the scheme in Australia - during his summer campaign to lead the Conservative Party and made it a key pledge during the election. Mr Johnson said he wanted a scheme, based on Australia's system, during his summer campaign to lead the Conservative Party, and he made it a key pledge during the election.
Professor Alan Manning, chair of the committee, said: "No perfect system exists and there are unavoidable, difficult trade-offs. Professor Alan Manning said that while he recognised politicians needed "cosmetic" means of presenting complex topics to the public, it was unclear what the government meant when it had repeatedly used the phrase.
"The largest impacts will be in low-wage sectors and the government needs to be clear about its plans for lower-skilled work migration." The outgoing chairman said: "No perfect system exists and there are unavoidable, difficult trade-offs."
A review into the impact of salary thresholds was requested by the then-home secretary (and now Chancellor) Sajid Javid in June 2019. A Downing Street spokesman said the government was "grateful" for the report, but did not say if it would adopt the recommendations.
In September 2019, the new Home Secretary, Priti Patel, also asked the MAC to look into the best practice for Mr Johnson's proposed immigration scheme - inspired by the points-based system used in Australia. He added that the government would "introduce a firmer and fairer points immigration system from 2021, bring overall numbers down and introduce a fair, firm and compassionate system in line with what the British people want".
The committee criticised the UK's current complex immigration system where EU workers can come in without a job offer or specific skill under freedom of movement rules, while people from the rest of the world must seek one of many different visas. How does immigration work now?
It said the UK's post-Brexit system should allow entry to workers from all over the world with skills that are in demand, but also take into account many of them would not earn enough to meet the current salary test. As part of the European Union, anyone from other member states - or from the European Economic Area (EEA) - can come to the UK to live or work without a visa.
The report said: "Many stakeholders would prefer there to be no salary thresholds beyond the minimum wage." For those outside the EU, there are a range of visas they can attempt to qualify for.
But the committee believed the threshold stopped the undercutting of the labour market, ensured migrants made a net positive contribution to the public finances, and made sure migration policy supported the "ambition to make the UK a high wage, high skill, high productivity economy". One of them is the Tier 1 or "exceptional talent" visa - a points based system for highly qualified people who need to be endorsed as a leader or emerging leader, but do not need a job offer - capped at 2,000 offers a year.
The MAC said its proposals would benefit the UK economy, but warned there could be a rise in pressures in social care because of a shortage of low-skilled workers. Another is the Tier 2 (general) visa - where the applicant has to match exact criteria, including having a job offer with a minimum salary of £30,000.
"We remain concerned about the situation in social care, but the root cause of the problems there is the failure to offer competitive terms and conditions," said the report. There is also get a Tier 2 (general) visa with a lower salary threshold if the applicant is on the so-called Shortage Occupation List, which includes nurses and engineers.
'Part of wider system' Why was there a review of the immigration system?
The committee was also cautious of Mr Johnson's plan for a points-based system. Theresa May's government announced a look at changes to the immigration system based on skills in December 2018.
The prime minister said it would be inspired by schemes like the one in Australia, where applicants are assigned points based on a number of professional and personal characteristics, with higher points awarded for more desirable traits - from the amount of time they have worked in a skilled sector through to their proficiency in the English language. In June 2019, the then-home secretary (and now Chancellor) Sajid Javid said he wanted to build on this work, especially looking at salary thresholds for migrant workers.
Writing to the MAC last year, Mrs Patel said: "Delivering on the promise to introduce an Australian-style points-based system is part of our approach to improving public confidence in our immigration system whilst allowing us to welcome talented and skilled individuals from all over the world." He wrote to the MAC - an independent body that advises the government on immigration - to ask them to work with businesses to find out what next steps to take.
But businesses have cautioned flexibility in any new system to ensure they can get the workers they need. After Boris Johnson became prime minister, one of his main pledges was to create an overall points-based system for immigration.
After examining other such schemes around the world, the MAC said points based systems are "always just one part of a wider immigration system and typically also represents just part of the work migration system". This would see applicants assigned points based on a number of professional and personal characteristics, with higher points awarded for more desirable traits - from the amount of time they have worked in a skilled sector through to their proficiency in the English language.
It recommended points should only be used when it came to highly skilled migrants. The PM asked his new Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to also write to the MAC and seek their recommendations on implementing such a system.
Separately, the MAC also proposed stopping classifying people who work in fishing, elementary agricultural roles or as waiters and waitresses as skilled workers. The committee told the government it would merge the two reports into one and make its recommendations in January 2020.
However, it said carpenters, glaziers, plasterers and teaching assistants should be designated as skilled workers. However, they are just recommendations and the government is not obliged to follow any of them.
But whatever the government decides on for its post-Brexit immigration, the committee said it must come to its conclusion soon - ahead of the deadline it has imposed to agree a trade deal with the EU by the end of 2020. What has the review said?
The committee criticised the UK's current complex immigration system.
When it came to Tier 1 visas, the committee said the rules "set too high a bar for the definition of 'exceptional talent' and is often not a route well-suited for those who satisfy the existing definition".
It recommended the government could expand this way of entering the UK, especially increasing the number of points awarded to those with the most desired skills, and focusing on younger applicants and those showing promise, rather than already being established.
For Tier 2 (general) visas, the committee said the criteria were too strict to call it a points based system as applicants have to meet every one.
However, they recommended keeping the existing framework of the visa with some changes.
For example, it thinks the government should lower the threshold for the salary needed by someone with a job offer from £30,000 to £25,600.
The committee dismissed those calling for no threshold, believing it stopped the undercutting of the labour market, ensured migrants made a net positive contribution to the public finances, and made sure migration policy supported the "ambition to make the UK a high wage, high skill, high productivity economy".
But it said the drop would enable more medium-skilled workers to qualify.
The MAC said whatever the government decides, it must work quickly to get something in place for post-Brexit immigration.
Who would the recommendations affect?
If adopted by the government, the first people it would affect would be EU citizens.
With the UK leaving the bloc at the end of the month, and the so-called transition period - where we align with EU rules while a trade deal is negotiated - ending in December 2020, they will instead face the same hurdles as immigrants coming from outside the EU to the UK.
There would be an increase in the variety of skilled workers who could get a visa, not only because of the lower threshold, but with more additions to the skilled workers list, including carpenters, glaziers, plasterers and teaching assistants.
And the MAC said schools and the NHS would particularly benefit from the changes.
However, people who work in fishing, elementary agricultural roles or as waiting staff would be removed from the list, making it tougher for them to live and work here.
The MAC warned that while its proposals would benefit the UK economy, there could be a rise in pressures in social care because of a shortage of low-skilled workers being able to enter the country.
It said the "root of the problem" was a failure of the sector to "offer competitive terms and conditions", which itself was "caused by a failure to have a sustainable funding model".
What's the reaction?
Labour's shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott said: "Even a lower salary cap won't help recruit the hospital staff we need, the social care workers or many of the new recruits to private businesses."
She added the UK needed "a system based on treating people and their families decently who come here with firm job offers, whatever their pay level".
The Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for home affairs, Christine Jardine, criticised the government's plan to end free movement after Brexit, saying the MAC review "makes clear these plans will make the crisis in social care even worse".
She added: "They will also mean huge amounts of extra costs and bureaucracy for thousands of British businesses. No amount of spin will change that fact."
Dr Ben Greening, executive director of Migration Watch - a group which believes the present level of immigration is not sustainable - said the proposals amounted to "a significant loosening" of the rules around Tier 2 migration.
He said it would mean "exposing over seven million UK jobs to new or increased global competition from much larger developing countries where there is very substantial demand to come to the UK".
Dr Greening also criticised the lack of an overall cap for the same visas, adding: "Without [a cap] employers will be able to indulge without constraint in their unparalleled addiction to cheap non-UK labour in order to boost their own profit margins and also to undercut and overlook UK workers."