Panel calls for cut in salary cap for skilled worker visas to UK

London, JanUARY 28

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An independent expert panel, tasked by the UK Government to assess how a post-Brexit immigration system would work, on Tuesday called for a drop in the salary cap imposed on professionals, a majority of them from India, applying for a skilled worker visa.

The Migration Advisory Committee called for the current salary threshold of 30,000 pounds on such workers, a large chunk of whom are Indians, to be cut down to 25,600 pounds to bring it in line with pay levels in specific occupations.

“Indian nationals account for 39 per cent alone, with Australia and the United States both accounting for 9 per cent each, Pakistan 7 per cent and South Africa, Nigeria and New Zealand 5 per cent each,” notes the committee report, in reference to workers accessing the Tier 1 (General) high-skilled category of UK visas so far.

“The ambition behind programmes like the HSMP (now-defunct highly-skilled migrant programme) is often to recruit ‘global talent’. Yet the successful applicants are drawn from a relatively small number of countries – over 70 per cent from just five countries,” it adds, as a criticism of the UK’s current visa regime. — PTI