Tighter UK immigration norms may affect Indian professionals

[OhioChick]

19 Aug 2009, 2107 hrs IST, PTI

LONDON: A proposal that is likely to adversely affect the prospect of thousands of professionals from India in the UK, a key migration panel attached to the Home Office on Wednesday recommended further tightening of the criteria for skilled workers from outside the EU.

The new measures proposed by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) for the Tier 2 of the points-based immigration system is likely to adversely affect professionals from India.

Some 50,000 workers are expected to arrive in the UK under the Tier 2 this year, nearly half of them from India.

MAC chairman David Metcalf said: "We believe that selective immigration that favours skilled workers, as the PBS does, is vital to ensure that the UK continues to be a good place to do business or invest.

"However, it is important that British workers are not displaced. We have therefore made a number of recommendations which will help to avoid undercutting and any disincentives to raise the skills of UK workers."

The MAC, whose recommendations are usually accepted by the Home Office, said there should be a requirement that migrant workers from outside the European Union will have a job offer with an annual salary of at least 20,000 pounds, an those without qualifications, earn at least 32,000 pounds.

The MAC also recommended that UK employers advertise their job for at least four weeks before employing a migrant from outside the EU. Besides, it said a migrant with a Masters degree be awarded 15 points instead of the current 10 points.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Tighter-UK-immigration-norms-may-affect-Indian-pros/articleshow/4912164.cms