Tougher migrant rules under fire in UK

04 January 2007

The British Government has come under fire for changing the rules that allow highly skilled migrants to live and work in Britain.

At least one Labour Government minister, migrant groups and legal experts are protesting against the changes, which may leave more than 30 per cent of migrants living and working in Britain unable to extend their visa.

Higher income requirements for prospective migrants from developed countries such as Australia may also restrict the ability of workers from those countries to qualify.

The changes, announced in November and introduced in early December, place greater importance on earnings and education than work experience. The Government says it made the changes to prevent abuse of the program and to bring the "right people" to Britain, the newspaper report says. About 20,000 people have come to Britain under the program since its establishment four years ago.

But at least one MP is publicly attacking the changes. The Labour member for Hendon, Andrew Dismore, told The Times: "There is a strong objection to retrospective application of the rules ? the decision that the new rules will apply to people who have already come to the UK expecting to be able to settle here permanently after four years. That is entirely unfair."

Disgruntled migrants have established at least two protest groups and launched three judicial reviews, and a rally will be held outside the Houses of Parliament at Westminster later this month.

Amit Kapadia, who founded HSMP 2006, a protest group representing 1200 migrants, has a masters in business administration but may fall short of the £35,000 ($A86,000) income he now requires to requalify for the visa.

He told The Times: "Why should I live with this uncertainty and unpredictability? I might have gone to Australia or Canada instead."

The Immigration Law Practitioners Association has been lobbying Immigration Minister Liam Byrne, but Mr Byrne is reported as saying that the changes "strike the correct balance between the need to address the needs of the highly skilled migrant program applicants with the need to carry out policies which are in the interests of the UK."

Migrationwatch, which campaigns against mass immigration, has claimed that the financial benefits brought to Britain by migrants are "very slight" ? just 4p a week per Briton.

Migrationwatch chairman Sir Andrew Green said: "Of course many immigrants make a useful contribution to the economy but taken in total the economic benefit is at best marginal. The main beneficiaries are the immigrants themselves who are able to send home about £10 million a day, not the host nation."

He added: "The Government seek to present the record immigration levels as being nothing but good news for the host community as a means of deflecting attention from some of the many problems it is causing, and to neutralise the deep public disquiet they know is out there."

The Government had suggested that immigration brought £4 billion a year to Britain's gross domestic product, a report by Migrationwatch said. This amounted to 0.01 per cent of overall GDP, or £2.10 a year for each of Britain's 60 million inhabitants, or 4p a week, it said.

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