AGL 39.55 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (1.99%)
AIRLINK 201.40 Increased By ▲ 7.11 (3.66%)
BOP 10.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-1.29%)
CNERGY 6.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.58%)
DCL 10.19 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DFML 43.70 Increased By ▲ 0.57 (1.32%)
DGKC 97.90 Increased By ▲ 1.29 (1.34%)
FCCL 37.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.71%)
FFBL 80.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.73 (-0.9%)
FFL 13.94 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.64%)
HUBC 122.25 Increased By ▲ 3.27 (2.75%)
HUMNL 14.86 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.61%)
KEL 5.76 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.35%)
KOSM 8.27 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-2.59%)
MLCF 46.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.09%)
NBP 75.45 Decreased By ▼ -1.78 (-2.3%)
OGDC 193.49 Decreased By ▼ -1.29 (-0.66%)
PAEL 35.99 Increased By ▲ 1.25 (3.6%)
PIBTL 8.59 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.51%)
PPL 173.65 Decreased By ▼ -0.92 (-0.53%)
PRL 33.29 Increased By ▲ 0.12 (0.36%)
PTC 26.10 Increased By ▲ 1.53 (6.23%)
SEARL 113.10 Increased By ▲ 3.06 (2.78%)
TELE 9.75 Increased By ▲ 0.85 (9.55%)
TOMCL 35.50 Increased By ▲ 0.67 (1.92%)
TPLP 11.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-0.77%)
TREET 18.70 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.75%)
TRG 59.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.22 (-0.37%)
UNITY 36.12 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-1.01%)
WTL 1.83 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (4.57%)
BR100 11,575 Decreased By -125.9 (-1.08%)
BR30 35,646 Increased By 235 (0.66%)
KSE100 108,239 Decreased By -814.9 (-0.75%)
KSE30 33,479 Decreased By -369.8 (-1.09%)
World

UK raises minimum salary for skilled migrant worker visa

LONDON: Britain’s embattled Conservative government unveiled a raft of measures Monday aimed at cracking down on...
Published December 5, 2023
Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP

LONDON: Britain's embattled Conservative government unveiled a raft of measures Monday aimed at cracking down on record levels of regular migration, including raising the minimum salary threshold for a skilled worker visa.

Immigration is set to be a key issue in a general election expected next year, which the main opposition Labour party is currently favoured to win.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to reduce new arrivals but statistics released last month showed that net migration to Britain hit a high in 2022.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of people who arrived in Britain last year was 745,000 more than the number who left.

UK PM Sunak committed to bringing net migration down ‘significantly’

Interior minister James Cleverly said his plan would result in 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK in the coming years.

"Enough is enough," the home secretary told parliament as he laid out his proposals, which will take effect early next year.

Cleverly said skilled foreign workers wanting a UK visa would have to earn £38,700 ($48,860), up from £26,200 -- just over a third more.

He exempted health and social care workers, where there are currently staff shortages, in part because of Brexit, but said they would be prevented from bringing family dependents.

Cleverly raised the minimum income for family visas and confirmed restrictions on international students bringing dependents.

He also reaffirmed that Britain would increase the surcharge that migrants pay to access the state-run National Health Service (NHS) by 66 percent, to £1,035.

Critics have said this effectively imposes a double charge on migrant workers, as employees have National Insurance charges, which goes towards covering healthcare, deducted from wages at source.

Cleverly added that the government would reform the "shortage occupation list", which details jobs for which employers are not able to find enough British workers.

The Conservatives won a landslide under the leadership of Boris Johnson at the last election in 2019, largely on a promise to bring net migration numbers down.

The party has repeatedly promised that leaving the European Union, which ended the free movement of people from member states, would allow the UK to "take back control" of its borders.

But regular migration has soared since Britain formally left the EU in January 2020. In 2021, net migration was 488,000.

The ONS data piled pressure on Sunak from his own MPs to take action.

The Tories, in power since 2010, lag well behind centre-left Labour in opinion polls ahead of an election that must be held by January 2025.

Comments

Comments are closed.