Migration Advisory Committee reviews immigration to the UK for Highly Skilled Migrants

4 December 2009- The UK Govt requested that MAC consider whether the criteria for Tier 1 applications should be changed in 2010 in light of the current Economic situation. The report published states that the Tier 1 is operating well but also recommends the following changes:

• the salary multipliers for each country code needs to be changed
• migrant's with Bachelor degree's but no Master degree's should be allowed to come into the UK if their previous earnings are high enough
• professional qualifications should be considered as equal to masters (in say law or accounting).
• the pay threshold should be increased to 24,000 GBP
• Migrants with 150,000 GMP or over should not need the qualification requirements
• Applicants should receive points for their age if they are under 39
  
• the period of leave initially granted should be changed to two years and not three
• Post study work visa should be assessed and check if every field should be included in this category of Tier 1