The new immigration rule brought in by Theresa May will prove to be very detrimental to non-EU workers, especially nurses and teachers. Furthermore, the skilled-worker immigration cap could also affect the availability of architects in the UK.
Under the new regulations by the Home Secretary, non-European workers will be made to leave the UK after six years if they are not earning more than £35,000 per year.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) have said that these changes, which are due to come into effect in April 2016, will create chaos in the health service. They have also stated that up to 3,365 nurses could be affected due to the new regulations.
RCN’s chief executive and general secretary, Dr Peter Carter, said “The immigration rules for health care workers will cause chaos for the NHS and other care services. At a time when demand is increasing, the UK is perversely making it harder to employ staff from overseas.”
Dr Carter further stated, “The NHS has spent millions hiring nurses from overseas in order to provide safe staffing levels. These rules will mean that money has just been thrown down the drain. The UK will be sending away nurses who have contributed to the health service for six years. Losing their skills and knowledge and then having to start the cycle again and recruit to replace them is completely illogical.”
Similar to the health service staff, many headteachers have worried about “significant numbers” of overseas teachers may be forced to leave the UK, under the new immigration regulations.
The NAHT, the headteachers' union has question the deportation of well-trained teachers during a major teacher recruitment crisis. The NAHT's General Secretary, Russell Hobby said, “Headteachers everywhere are struggling to recruit. Pupil numbers are rising. Budgets are being squeezed all the time. In the face of these challenges, it seems counterproductive to force out valued members of staff for the sake of meeting a migration target.”
The Head of Immigration, Simon Kenny of Moore Blatch has warned that June’s allocation of restricted Tier 2 visas, which allow entry of skilled migrant workers into the UK has been reached this month and could potentially affect architect practices outside of London that rely on this workforce.
The Tier 2 application process works on a points based system, and has an annual cap of 20,700. There are approximately 1,700 Certificates of Sponsorship available on a monthly basis and where more applications are received than points available, those with the highest points will qualify for entry.
In June, the minimum qualifying mark was 50 points to obtain a Certificate of Sponsorship. If those applying did not fit into the priority category, applicants would need a salary of £46,000 and above to enter the UK and work.
Simon Kenny commented, “This is most likely to affect architect practices outside of London that rely on skilled workers with salaries lower than £46,000, many of whom will have had their permission to work refused in June.”
Kenny added, “Many businesses will be concerned about the knock-on effects on growth and the economy and if this is allowed to continue, there could be long term risks to British business, with some opting for overseas operations. The Government came under considerable pressure during the election campaign to ensure that future immigration targets they committed to were met – whilst this is being followed, there does seem to be an inherent bias in the points based system, which could see architect practices outside of London missing out on key workers for business growth and must be reviewed as a matter of urgency.”
These new regulations may seem like a wise attempt by the Home Secretary to curb immigration, however, it is proving to be damaging on nurses, teachers, architects, plus many more professions, not only for the overseas worker, but for the industry that they have contributed towards in the UK. Currently, the NHS have been suffering due to a shortage of staff and now with the decision of getting rid of well-trained staff who earn less than the outlined salary, it seems that the condition may worsen.
