Guardian.uk: Too many exclusions for migration cap

[Twoller]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/ju...ap-theresa-may

Immigration cap exclusions turn policy into gesture, say critics

Cap on skilled migrants is loose enough to allow the entrance of at least half of those currently applying, detailed policy reveals

Alan Travis, home affairs editor guardian.co.uk,
Monday 28 June 2010 14.15BST

Nearly half of the skilled migrants who come to Britain from outside Europe are to be exempted from the temporary cap on migration planned by the government, according to detailed proposals revealed today.

The coalition's plan for an annual limit on immigration show that the "flexibility" demanded by the Liberal Democrats and businesses will mean that internal transfers of staff by mutinational companies – which make up 45% of the total covered – will initially be exempt.

Other exemptions from the limit, to be imposed next month, will include ministers of religion and elite sports people – ruling out any restriction on the number of overseas players in the Premiership in the wake of England's World Cup exit.

The temporary limit on skilled migration from outside Europe is to come into effect from July 16 and is intended to prevent a surge of applications in advance of the permanent annual limit being imposed next April. The interim limit will cut current numbers of skilled workers in tiers one and two of the points based system by 5% or 1,300 to 18,700 over the next 9 months.

A Home Office consultation paper published today on the operation of the annual raises the prospect that all new skilled migrants from outside Europe would qualify for a higher number of points under the points-based system if they agree to take out private health insurance.

The consultation paper also asks whether a quarterly auction should be held with skilled migrant visas going to the companies that put in the highest bids. But it makes clear that visas are more likely to be decided on an American-style 'first come, first served basis' or with each quarter's visas drawn from a pool of applicants as is done in New Zealand.

It also says that the government's view is that more should be done to identify and reach out to those who come to Britain as tier-one applicants - the brightest and the best - who come as investors and entrepreneurs and do not have to have a job offer to qualify for a visa.

The home secretary, Theresa May, said the introduction of an annual limit on non-EU economic migration was a key mechanism for bringing down overall net migration back to the level of the 1990s - tens of thousands instead of hundreds of thousands - by the time of the general election.

The problem facing the home secretary is that she cannot reduce most of the migration flows into Britain. She cannot block the free movement of people within the European Union - except for transitional arrangements for new members - without raising questions about Britain's future in the EU.

The door has already been closed on unskilled migration from outside Europe. She also appeared to rule out any further change today on family reunion including British citizens bringing in wives and husbands - one of the largest categories for those settling in Britain. The imposition of more stringent English language tests on this category from this autumn may produce a small reduction in numbers.

The home secretary is left with just two categories that she can influence - skilled migration and overseas students. May confirmed today that student visas will be the next stage to be decided within the Cabinet. The Financial Times reported on Friday that the education secretary, Michael Gove, and the higher education minister, David Willetts, have already privately warned that too rigid a formula for the cap could undermine a vital flow of income for some higher education institutions.

The interim measures will also cap the number of tier-one migrants at current levels and raising the number of points needed by non-EU workers who come to do highly skilled jobs from 95 to 100.

The shadow home secretary, Alan Johnson, said the temporary cap was a con trick as it would only affect about one in seven immigrants and there were already restrictions on firms recruiting workers from outside the EU under the points-based system introduced by the previous Labour government.

"You wonder what is the point of this, given that in this country at the moment, under our policy, if a company wants to bring a skilled worker in, they can do it if they have advertised that job for four weeks in Job Centre Plus and they are absolutely sure they can't get a British worker to do it," said Johnson.

"So it's absolutely pointless. At best it's a gesture. At worst it's a deceit."

But May said: "The Government promised large scale change to Britain's immigration system - and that is what we are delivering. Alongside the limit on non-EU migrant workers, we have already introduced a requirement that those coming here to marry learn English, and our urgent review into child detention for immigration purposes is under way."