Measures to raise the bar for foreign workers wishing to enter the UK and to give domestic workers a greater chance of applying first for UK jobs were unveiled by British Minister of the Interior, Jacqui Smith.
Jacqui Smith pledged to use the flexibility built into the Points Based System (PBS) to respond to changing economic circumstances - helping British workers through the hard times of the recession.
The British Government has already suspended Tier 3 PBS to ensure no foreign national from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) can come to the UK and work in a low skilled job.
The UK Interior Minister announced three significant changes to support British workers and to be more selective about the migrants coming to the UK from outside the EEA. From 1 April, the UK Government will:
- strengthen the Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) for Tier 2 skilled jobs so that employers must advertise jobs to resident workers before they can bring in a worker from outside the EEA;
- use each Shortage Occupation List to trigger skills reviews that focus on up-skilling resident workers for these occupations, which will make the UK less dependent on migration for the future; and
- tighten new criteria against which highly skilled migrants seeking entry to the UK are judged, by raising the qualifications and salary level required for tier 1 of the PBS to a Masters degree and a minimum salary of £20,000.
For passengers legitimately travelling through UK ports new facial recognition technology is being introduced which balances high security with quicker times at immigration control.
Additional information can be found at
http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/newsarticles/migrantworkerstoughertest
