Skilled workers may have to meet minimum salary requirement for ILR
The MIgration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published two reports affecting skilled workers looking to come to the UK. The reports affect Tier 2 migrants seeking Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) and workers from Bulgaria and Romania.Recommendations made in the first of these reports include introducing a minimum salary requirement for anyone seeking to apply for settlement under Tier 2 of the points based system.
The second of the two reports affects workers from Romania and Bulgaria and suggests that relaxing the current restrictions on working rights would ‘cause further disruption in the UK labour market’.
Tier 2 migrants and salary requirements for ILR
The MAC has published its report, Analysis of the points-based system - Settlement rights of migrants in Tier 1 and Tier 2 (PDF, 1.3MB) in response to questions from the government.
The recommendations of this report are that:
- a minimum salary threshold be introduced for settlement for Tier 2 (general) migrants
- any such threshold should be set between £31,000 and £49,000 for Tier 2 (general). This would be set on arrival and adjusted for inflation and changes to average pay at the time of any application for ILR.
- sportspeople should also be subject to the same pay criteria as other migrants under Tier 2 (general)
- anyone entering the UK through the Tier 1 (exceptional talent) route will be eligible for settlement after 5 years, assuming they continue to meet the criteria for that route
- government and businesses should work together to upskill the UK labour market to mitigate the impact of restricting settlement rights.
It is important to understand that the recommendations of the report are bound by the terms of the questions the government asked the MAC. The questions included, ‘What would be the economic effects of restricting or removing settlement rights in Tiers 1 and 2’ and ‘which economic criteria could be used to identify the most economically important Tier 2 migrants for settlement?’
The report was not asked to consider the broader impact of any such restrictions on the economy, country or society at large.
Professor David Metcalf CBE, Chairman of the MAC said:
‘After extensive consultation the MAC has recommended a pay threshold as the best [economic criteria] to decide if a worker can stay in the UK.
‘The question we were commissioned to answer implies that the right to settlement will become more selective.
‘Imposing greater controls on settlement may mean that the annual limit on entry into Tier 1 and Tier 2 would not need to be reduced as much as it would otherwise to meet the government’s objective of reduced net migration.’
It is likely that the number of applications for settlement from Tier 2 migrants will fall from 2016 (the first year people affected by recent changes will be able to apply for settlement). As such the MAC note that a ‘do nothing’ option is available, and that this ‘is the preferred option of companies, universities and other institutions that gave evidence to the MAC investigation.’
The report also notes, however, that ‘the Government is likely to wish to go further’ with its efforts to stifle the net migration and drastically reduce the number of people coming to the country.
Romanian and Bulgarian workers
In a separate report, Review of the transitional restrictions on access of Bulgarian and Romanian nationals to the UK labour market. (PDF, 993KB), the MAC also considered the impact of removing the current restrictions on workers from Romania and Bulgaria.
The government has the option to remove the current restrictions - which require Romanian and Bulgarian migrants in the UK to have a work permit if they wish to work - at the end of 2011. Otherwise it can keep them in place for a maximum of another two years before EU law requires they are lifted.
The MAC found, in this instance, that there was a risk that lifting the restrictions now would lead to an increase in workers coming to the UK from the two countries. The report also notes that ‘that the UK labour market is in a state of serious disturbance’ and that ‘maintaining existing restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian nationals’ access to the labour market would assist in addressing the serious ... disturbance’. However, ‘The
extent to which maintaining existing restrictions would assist in addressing any such disturbance is, however, subject to considerable uncertainty’.
As such it should be expected that the government will accept the recommendations made in this report and that Romanian and Bulgarian migrants will face restrictions on their working rights for the next two years.
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