UK to abolish caps on skilled workers from all countries

Smita Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 16

The UK plans to abolish the cap on skilled workers of all nationalities, remove Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) applicable for highly skilled workers and extend visa stay for students to be able to gain employment in the country. 

These proposals are part of a new White Paper on Migration released last month. British Officials today concluded the first round of Joint Secretary-level consultations with Home Ministry counterparts and education and business stakeholders on the White Paper. The dialogue on migration focused on UK’s post Brexit plan for new, single, skills based immigration system that seeks to bring European Union (EU) and non-EU nations to a level-playing field. “India is the first country, outside of the EU, that the UK is consulting on its new migration White Paper,” said British High Commissioner Dominic Asquith.

“At the moment, only highly skilled workers (graduates and above) are coming in from India and non-EU countries. So the UK is looking to attract medium skilled workers from India,” said a source. One of the major Indian concerns has been short stay visa that students are left with, as of now, ranging from a few weeks to four months at the end of their course. 

The new plan aims to allow under-graduate and post-graduate students six months and doctoral students one year of extension to be able to stay back and apply for jobs in the UK. “The aim is to ensure that firms bring immigrant workers with skills needed in the UK but do not undercut wages of Britishers,” added an official on high salary threshold requirements for hiring foreign nationals.

Meanwhile the logjam over the bilateral Returns Bill dealing with deportation of illegal migrants continues. While the Bill is not a part of the White Paper, the matter was discussed during the talks.

19,000 Indian students in the UK in academic year 2017-2018, up by 33%

55,000 Indians in tier-II visa categories, 56% of combined skilled worker visas issued