In another whimsical effort to 'control' immigration, the Tory government has now decided to bar spouses of Indians coming into the UK on dependent visa from working in Britain. The rule change that will come into effect from next year, was apparently determined after immigration data showed that net annual migration to Britain had leapt to 318,000, just 2,000 below the highest figure on record. Britain's new immigration blue print was announced on last Wednesday by the Prime Minister himself.
The responsibility to make these changes will depend on the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) that is being set up to consider a host of new measures to reduce demand for migrant labour from outside EU.
The measures expected to be introduced by next year will include:
- restricting work visas to genuine skills shortages and highly specialist experts,
- putting a time limit on how long a sector can claim to have a skills shortage,
- a new skills levy on Tier 2 visas to boost funding to UK apprenticeships and
- raising salary thresholds to stop businesses using foreign workers to undercut wages.
The Committee has also been told to see:
- how to put up restrictions on the automatic right of Tier 2 dependents to work,
- tightening up on the intra company transferee (ICT) route, including applying the immigration health surcharge to ICTs and
- raising the minimum salary levels that economic migrants have to be paid.
Officials of 10 Downing Street reportedly said "The MAC will look at proposals to cut non-EEA work migration and give British people the skills they need. Proposals on visa salary thresholds to be fast tracked in time for swift action in Immigration Rule changes later this year".
While Britain is trying to rebuild a stronger foundation with India, there are possibilities that such drastic measures towards legitimate immigrants will only make relationships between the two countries sour. We already have international student figure falling by 50%, hopefully this step will not hit the UK economy further.
