Employers join campaign after applications from Europe dry up following Brexit vote
National Health Service employers are pressing the Home Office to exempt skilled employees from Tier 2 visa requirements as immigration quotas restrict their ability to hire medical staff.
Their call, backed by other employers, comes after a decline in the number of European Economic Area migrants applying for work in the UK since the Brexit referendum has forced organisations to recruit outside the region.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said NHS organisations were becoming “increasingly concerned at their inability to obtain permits for essential medical colleagues”.
The Home Office each year grants 20,700 Tier 2 visas for skilled migrants from outside the EEA, with a monthly limit of about 1,700. About a third go to NHS employees.
For the first time, the number of Tier 2 applicants breached the monthly limit for two consecutive months in December and January. Immigration lawyers and other experts say that many of the hundreds of rejected applicants are expected to reapply for the roughly 2,600 spaces available in February and March, pushing the excess numbers into the new financial year in April.
The visa cap has hit the NHS particularly hard because the points-based system sorts applicants partly according to their expected salary, with the minimum fluctuating according the number of excess applicants and their points ratings. The lowest eligible salary in January was £46,000, according to the Home Office.
Many would-be immigrant doctors would earn too little to qualify. The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has said it has had 18 applicants rejected because of the issue.
“We are in touch with both government officials and business membership bodies to find a way forward that works for both employers and the government,” Mr Mortimer said.
People briefed on Home Office thinking believe the department is looking at whether to exempt NHS employers from the visa requirement for skilled non-EEA applicants, which would substantially ease the pressure on the system.
Julia Onslow-Cole, head of immigration for PwC, the consultancy, said an exemption would be an “imaginative solution” that would alleviate an “increasingly difficult situation for business”.
Since Amber Rudd took over as home secretary in July 2016, the Home Office has pressed for changes to the immigration regime, including the exclusion of overseas students from immigration figures. However, Theresa May, who tightened the rules during her time as home secretary, has been resistant to any relaxation of the rules.
Caron Pope, managing partner at Fragomen, a law firm specialising in immigration law, said there was urgent need for government action. Employers were “shaking their heads in frustration”, worried that they would not be able to get the workers they needed after Brexit, she said.
Ms Pope pointed out that employers wanting to hire a non-EEA employee had to prove there was no suitable applicant in the UK, and permission to hire expired after six months. The several months’ delay facing some employers under the current rules meant some would be forced to restart the process.
“Frankly, it just isn’t good enough and the government needs to act now,” Ms Pope said.
Other business bodies including the EEF manufacturing employers’ group, Creative Industries Federation, Campaign for Science and Engineering, Coalition for a Digital Economy, Recruitment and Employment Confederation, Campaign for Science and Engineering and techUK have also called for relaxation of the rules.
The Home Office made no comment on the possibility of changing visa requirements but said it was important the immigration system worked in the national interest, ensuring employers looked to the UK-resident labour market before recruiting from overseas.
It added that the points system gave priority to some jobs requiring a PhD and “shortage” occupations, including a number of medical roles.
https://www.ft.com/content/5f80cdf0-0dba-11e8-8eb7-42f857ea9f09
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UK hits cap on letting in skilled non-EU migrants
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