Great Britain limits validity for visas granted for jobs below the level of university studies

The measure announced by the great Britnaie on limiting the duration of visas for jobs below the level of university studies is part of a new governmental plan to reduce migration.

Visas for qualified foreign workers will be limited over time for those who do not occupy a job at the level of university studies, the Ministry of British interior announced, The Guardian reports.

The measure is part of a preview of larger plans that will be presented the week coming and which are designed to reduce net migration to the United Kingdom.

According to the proposals, the standard threshold for the qualified worker visa will be applied only for the jobs evaluated at level 6 within the regulated qualifications (RQF)-the equivalent of a university diploma-instead of the current level 3, which corresponds approximately with the baccalaureate level (A-Level).

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Interior, anyone will occupy a job considered below the level of RQF 6 will only be able to enter the country for a limited period and only if there is “clear evidence of shortcomings that are critical to the industrial strategy”.

In addition, in order for this to be possible, employers in the sector that brings personnel from abroad must prove that they have plans to increase the recruitment and vocational training of local workers.

Yvette Cooper, the Interior Minister, welcomed the plan as “a decisive action to restore control and order on the immigration system, to increase internal training and skills and to reduce net migration, while promoting economic growth.”

On Monday, she will present a government “White Paper”-a document that sets plans for future legislation-meant to significantly reduce the net migration, in the context in which ministers are trying to respond to the success of the UK Reform Party, a party with a powerful anti-immigration message.

Who is affected

Although the number of visas for skilled workers has already decreased significantly in recent years, other obstacles to recruitment from abroad could cause problems in industries such as: carers, agricultural workers, workers in the hospitality industry.

Employers in these sectors prefer cheap foreign workforce, while such changes would press them to offer higher salaries to attract British workers.

An organization in the field of care has warned that, without coherent government measures to attract British staff, more and more care providers could bankrupt.

The other proposed measure aims to partially approach this problem, by setting up what is called the Labor Market Group (Labor Market Group).

The number of qualified workers who have entered the United Kingdom below the RQF 6 level has already decreased in recent years, while the number of skills at the university diploma level has remained constant – about 75,000 per year, the data provided by the Consultative Committee (Mac) shows.

Nadra Ahmed, the executive president of the national NGO Care Association, said that, although his organization will have to analyze the proposals in detail, it is worried about the possible “accidental consequences” on a sector in which about 70,000 employees are from abroad and which has about 120,000 estimated vacancies.

“To make more difficult access to this sector, because the statistics are clear – at this moment we cannot attract the domestic workforce, because we have not solved the problem of a fair salary for them,” she said.

“And if no financing is offered for this, then the goal in the economy of the social care sector will only deepen. This will lead to the withdrawal of suppliers from the sector, which will have a direct impact on the ability to help people who need support now,” she added.