International workers
Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has published the White Paper “Making Migration Work For Britain”, and is set to introduce a new five-tier immigration structure, based on Australian and Canadian models, the new scheme has been introduced to rationalise the current 80 routes into Britain to work and study.
A new five-tier system will allow only skilled workers to settle permanently, with the low and unskilled allowed entry for periods of up to a year before leaving.
Low-skilled workers will enter the country only if a skills shortage in particular sectors are found. They will not be allowed to bring spouses or children with them. The low skilled may be made to hand over a financial bond, possess a return ticket or have money docked from their pay and put in a bank in their home country to ensure that they leave Britain.
They will only be allowed to come if a new body – the Skills Advisory Board - identifies labour shortages in particular areas of the economy, such as the hospitality sector.
The five tiers
Tier 1: Highly skilled
- 75 points required
Tier 2: Skilled workers
- 50 points required
Tier 3: Low-skilled in areas such as hospitality
- No points system.
Migrants only enter when there is a shortage of workers in a sector. This third tier will only allow in low-skilled workers, who might include waiters, chefs and barpersons, into Britain for a fixed period (maximum of a year) to fill jobs shortages. The Home Office said: "Our starting-point is that employers should look first to recruit from the UK and the expanded EU before recruiting from outside the EU." These workers, who could stay for a year, could not come from countries with a track record of illegal immigration. They could be required to prove they are sending some of their pay home and to produce return air tickets and in addition, English will be compulsory for Hospitality jobs.
The only routes allowed will be quota based, company-led and as stated time limited. Migrants will not be allowed to settle or bring families.
Qualifying to enter through Tier 3 will be dependent on the quota set by the new Skills Advisory Body (SAB), under the direction of the Sector Skills Development Agency, which will allocate quotas for particular jobs in specific sectors, based on robust research identifying need.
Tier 4: Students
- Must provide evidence they are studying with a accredited college.
- Allowed to remain in Britain for duration of study.
- Not allowed to apply for settlement.
- Allowed to bring dependants if over 16.
Tier 5: Temporary workers, au pairs, sports people in competitions, musicians on tour
- Allowed in Britain for up to two years.
- Not allowed to apply for settlement.
- Temporary workers allowed to bring dependants; gap-year students no dependants.
The CBI and TUC have given their support to the scheme. The industry still endures vacancies on any given day of approx. 114,000 in England alone (NESS 2004) and this is despite 72,000 workers coming from the A8 Accession States, since May 2004 to work in the sector.
There are plenty of details that have still to be clarified. The proposals outlined recently have no indication of cost, but are supposed to be self- financing. There are no estimates of how many people might be admitted under the various categories, or how those categories will change as economic need evolves. There will be further burdens on companies and colleges who want migrant workers and overseas students, but the extent of this bureaucratic burden is as yet unclear.
Skilled migrant workers will be able to settle in Scotland after just two years under plans being drawn up in London and Edinburgh.
