UK Visa Restrictions Likely in Future
After an historic UK election with the formation of a coalition government, between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties, immigration is set to be cut as part of the new UK government’s way forward. Confirmed by the new Home Secretary Theresa May, a cap is to be imposed on worker and business migrants in order to halve Britain’s immigration levels.
“We will be reducing the number of non-European economic migrants,” Ms May said.
The immigration policy of the new coalition government will put new annual limits on migrants from Australia, NZ and other countries outside the European Union. Britain’s membership of the EU currently stops the nation closing the door to the 430 million citizens of the EU.
The new immigration policy will continue to utilise the points-based entry controls but will apply a crackdown on the abuse of the student visa system.
The impact on total numbers of Aussies & Kiwis coming to work in the UK is not all together clear though. The reductions are likely to mostly impact applications for highly-skilled working and sponsorship visas, however these only make up a small portion of Australians working in the UK. It is not yet clear if or how the clampdown will be applied to the popular working holiday scheme that allows workers aged under 30 to spend up to two years in Britain.
Many Conservative MPs say they do not want to see the immigration changes affect Australians but the government is not legally permitted to single out specific non-EU nationalities for tougher or more lenient treatment.
Cuts to student visas are also planned as part of the new government’s immigration strategy. The BBC reports “unscrupulous” recruitment agents who bring bogus overseas students into the UK are being targeted globally. Rogue agents are accused of falsifying documents and helping people to get around the student visa system, the rules of which immigration authorities in the UK have tried to tighten.
In the UK, overseas students are worth £5.3bn each year, according to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Source: Australian Times UK, Ashlea Maher
