Immigration Cap: What You Should Know
The UK immigration cap may be slightly confusing you so we have put together some questions and answers that we hope will help you out.
On 28th June 2010, British Home Secretary Theresa May announced plans to cap UK immigration from outside the United Kingdom. The plan was to cap UK immigration for a short period of time and consultations have followed as regards to how limits should be set for the future.
Who will the immigration cap affect?
The immigration cap will affect anyone who wishes to enter the UK from outside the European Union to work. Workers who live within the UK have the right to free movement so therefore are not restricted by a limit. The aim of the government is to attract high net worth migrants as investors but reduce low skilled migrants.
Foreign students and those arriving on family visas will not be affected by the cap however cutbacks are expected to happen.
What are the reasons for a cap on immigration?
The new coalition government in the UK aims to reduce annual net migration from 176,000 to “tens of thousands”, although no specific figure has been set. Although UK immigration wish to attract the brightest and best people to the UK, they do not wish to have uncontrolled migration.
The reason for this is because public services such as schools, hospitals and housing are struggling to cope with the rise in migrants entering Britain.
Why a cap on work visas?
Over the past few years there has been an increase in unemployment across the UK so it is important that British people are getting the best chance of work.
After the UK officially came out of recession earlier this year the first six months the number of foreign workers increased by 126, 000 but the number of Britons in work fell by 179,000
Is the cap on work visas sufficient enough to reduce overall migration?
Workers entering Britain from outside the UK only makes up a small portion of overall people immigrating to Britain so therefore the cap will only have a limited impact.
