Further discussion on Cap on UK Immigration

I found this illustration on the guardian website in an article on the cap on Non EU Workers being introduced soon to the UK immigration system. This proposed cap once again has come under heavy criticism by businesses in the UK who claim it will have a negative affect on economic growth. The British Chamber of commerce have said that this cap will stop UK companies from hiring the specialist and highly skilled workers they need and have become reliant on.

Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy at the BCC, said: "Firms really need to be able to employ the right people to drive the recovery and we can't be held back by arbitrary limits."

Marshall will appear in front of the home affairs select committee on Tuesday this coming week. Senior Researcher Sarah Mulley of the Institute for Public Policy Research was reported t have said that the highly skilled people were not the demographic that the public should be concerned about and she also maintains that this sector of highly skilled individuals pay a large amount of Tax in the United Kingdom and by reducing the number of skilled immigrants could adversely affect the UK public finances.

Points System Pilot Process Evaluation

This report presents results from extensive research into Highly Skilled Migrants who applied to work in the United Kingdom under Tier 1 of the Points Based System.

-There was a high level of satisfaction with the points based application process with about 82% claiming they were very or basically satisfied. Majority of applicants seem to find the information on the Tier 1 and process easy to follow and transparent and applicants that had previously applied to the UK under the previous routes would most likely see the Points Based System as a better option.

The report found that the guidance notes on the application process generally were found to be useful however there was dissatisfaction with the length of time it took to receive assistance and the usefulness of this assistance provided. Although most applicants found supporting evidence easy to submit, except some people found the previous earnings proofs difficult to produce and comments suggest that greater flexibility would be welcomed in this regard.

There was some demand to track the application via an online tool. A large percentage of in country applications would prefer to submit their applications online, which is not currently offered at all.