From April 6, skilled workers who have arrived from outside the EU since April 2011 and who earn less than £35,000 will lose the right to continue to live and work in the UK.
The Government has responded to a petition urging it to scrap the new pay threshold, calling it a “modest” contribution to cut net migration to Britain.
The immigration status of skilled migrant workers comes in the form of what is known as a Tier 2 Skilled Worker visa, which usually expires after 5 years. Workers whose visa has expired must either leave the UK or apply for settlement (known as Indefinite Leave to Remain or ILR).
From next Wednesday, applicants for ILR have to be earning a minimum of £35k per annum. Those who do not meet this criteria, with the exception of those performing roles specified on a ‘Shortage Occupation List’, will not be allowed to remain in the UK even if they have lived here and contributed to Britain’s culture and economy for years.
The change has nothing to do with the £30,000 entry threshold recently recommended by the Migration Advisory Committee and approved last week by the Home Office. The £30k entry threshold, when adopted, will restrict people from coming to the UK to work unless they make £30k as a starting salary, which represents a substantial increase from the current £20,800.
The new £35k threshold is bound to impact teachers, who are in shortage in the UK at the moment. Only secondary school maths, physics and chemistry teachers appear on the Shortage Occupation List.
Last December, the National Union of Head Teachers found that 20% of schools advertising for staff failed to recruit the teachers they needed, a further 59% ’struggled’ to fill the roles and that some schools are paying £10,000 to fill a single vacancy.
Nurses have been temporarily been placed on the Shortage Occupation List. Last year, the Health Service Journal found that 207 out of 232 English hospitals missed their own targets for safe daytime staffing levels.
The Migration Advisory Committee, which originally recommended the £35,000 pay threshold in their 2011 report has since advised the government that an occupation-specific threshold would be fairer to individual industries. They have quoted the many businesses and government organisations that would also prefer this, despite the extra bureaucracy it would involve.
Speaking to The Guardian, Shannon Harmon from the Stop35k.org said: “The new rules will impact classrooms up and down the country. The average teacher’s salary in the UK after 10 years is £29,500 according to a 2013 OECD report, significantly short of the required £35,000 threshold. Who will replace these teachers?”
The anti campaign is also keen to dispel the myth that Tier 2 migrants are taking jobs from British workers.
Before a company can employ a non-EU worker they must acquire a sponsorship licence, which is expensive and involves much paperwork for UK resident staff. Every non-EU skilled worker must be granted entry clearance.
Every job filled by a skilled worker from outside the EU must first be advertised for a month so that a UK worker can be found to fill it. The job must be advertised through Job Centre Plus Universal Jobmatch service, It is clearly stated in the rules:
“If you find that you have more than one candidate with all the necessary skills and experience you advertised for, where one is a settled worker and the other is a migrant, you must appoint the settled worker even if the migrant is more skilled or experienced.”
It is also absolutely forbidden for a UK resident to be made redundant to create a vacancy, which is then filled by a Tier 2 migrant.
Stop35k also want to allay any concerns that Tier 2 migrants come to the UK and claim benefits. They pay the same rates of income tax as any other worker, but the conditions of the work visa forbids them from claiming Child Benefit, Housing Benefit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit. The financial contributions they make to universities and the treasury far outweigh the amount they cost either institution.
Joshua Harbord, who petitioned the Government to rethink the change and is running the Stop35k campaign, said the Home Office had offered “no justification” for the policy.
“The high-end of its own estimate is that it will cost £575million in the first year, offer very few opportunities to UK workers, displace thousands of taxpayers from their jobs and their homes, and endanger public services.
“The facts speak for themselves: this policy is incapable of doing anything useful. It’s a damaging, futile gesture that will have no impact on immigration statistics.”
A young teacher in the UK on a Tier 2 visa told The Guardian: “Teaching is a career that requires heart and soul. I am tired, I spend weekends and holidays marking or writing lessons, but the kids I do it for give me a reason for getting up to go to work at 6am every morning.
“The £35,000 rule undermines my efforts. It suggests I am unnecessary. It demeans me to a number. My salary does not reflect my worth or value. It does not reflect the impact I have on students. It only reflects how much I contribute to tax. I don’t see why I should be punished for my salary.”
Stop35k is advocating the introduction of a new immigration rule under which Tier 2 skilled workers will only have to satisfy the conditions for settlement that existed when they were granted their visa – not the conditions that exist when they apply for settlement. This will mean that skilled workers do not have to constantly look over their shoulders for unexpected threshold increases or other stealthy anti-immigration policies.
A spokesperson from the Government has responded: “These reforms will ensure that employers – including those in the education sector – are able to attract the skilled migrants they need. But we also want them to get better at recruiting and training UK teachers first.”
Next week’s rule change comes hot on the heels of recent increases of 2 percent and up to 25 percent in the cost of Tier 2 visas and settlement applications respectively.
