UK scraps indefinite leave to remain

UK scraps indefinite leave to remain

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By Richard Ford

UNSKILLED migrant workers face compulsory deductions from their wages to ensure that they leave Britain under a proposed overhaul of migration rules announced Wednesday.

Employers would deduct the money from their wages and pay it into a bank account in the migrant’s home country. The worker would be able to have access to the account only on returning home.

An alternative scheme to ensure low-skilled people depart when their work permit runs out would force migrant workers to deposit a cash bond with the British authorities that would be repayable after they leave.

Ministers are also considering auctioning work permits in areas where there are no skills shortages. Employers offering the highest figure would win a work permit.
The proposals are part of measures outlined in a government consultation paper on a points-based immigration system. The Home Office paper said that the system, expected to be introduced next year, should focus on getting migrants to do key jobs that cannot be filled from the domestic labour force. In 2001-02 there were 1.2 million foreign workers in the United Kingdom.

“It should focus on the skilled workers we need most, like doctors, engineers, finance experts, nurses and teachers, and should be supported by measures to limit the impact of migration on public services and the public purse, and to manage its impact on communities,” the paper said.

Under the plans, Britain would thus close the door on low-skilled workers from outside the EU settling permanently in the country. Only investors and skilled workers would be allowed to settle permanently after five years in the country. The unskilled would be expected to stay for short periods.

Ministers are proposing measures to clamp down on immigration abuse and to force companies, universities, colleges and even organisations involved in youth exchanges to take more responsibility for ensuring that migrants leave when their permits expire.

The new migration work scheme would have five tiers, which would replace the 50 ways that people can at present come to Britain to work and study.

Every migrant except those in the high-skilled tier would need a sponsor, ranging from a college or university for students, to a minister of religion for clerics, and employers for skilled and unskilled workers.

Universities and colleges would be expected to tell the Home Office when students did not attend courses and/or stopped attending classes. Employers would tell the authorities when a migrant left work.

Low-skilled migrants would be allowed into Britain only for a specific period, would be banned from bringing in dependants and barred from switching into another tier while in the country.

Financial bonds would be payable if applicants came from a country with a greater than average incidence of breaches of UK immigration rules or where, for instance, students had entered the country but not attended the college.

The Government also announced the implementation date of two changes to asylum and citizenship rules.

People given asylum will be given five years’ limited leave to remain in the United Kingdom from August 30 rather than the present immediate right to settle. If conditions in their home country improve in the five years officials will consider whether they should be returned home.

Keith Best, the chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, accused the Government of making employers and universities act as immigration officers.
John Cridland, the deputy director-general of the CBI, said that it supported a managed migration system. “This . . . could well provide employers with greater certainty as to how their essential skill needs could be met,” he said.

PECKING ORDER
TIER 1
Investor, entrepreneur, highly skilled worker.
Allowed to settle
TIER 2
Skilled worker in area with a skills shortage; skilled worker with job offer, specific overseas requirement — overseas government employees, intra-company transfers.
Allowed to settle
TIER 3
Low-skilled worker — waiter, agricultural worker, food production.
Not allowed to settle
TIER 4
Student
Not allowed to settle
TIER 5
Working visitor such as Commonwealth Working Holidaymakers, Youth Exchanges.
Not allowed to settle
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