| Making Migration Work for Britain
- Consultation Launched on Managed Migration Routes to the UK
19 July 2005
A major overhaul of UK migration routes began today as the Government
launched a consultation aimed at implementing a simpler, clearer
more selective points-based system for managed migration.
Immigration Minister Tony McNulty launched the 16 week consultation,
which has been designed to target employers, educational institutions,
prospective migrants and the public more broadly, to gain their
views on how the new five-tiered system should work in practice.
The Government will announce firm proposals for change and a timetable
for implementation in the Spring of 2006.
The new system will ensure that Britain attracts the skilled
labour force it needs to perform key jobs in areas such as, engineering,
the financial sector as well as education and the health service.
Migration already makes a valuable contribution to our public services
where more than nine% of the workforce is made up of migrants.
The intention is not to increase or reduce the number of
people coming to the UK. Rather, its aim is to ensure that those
who can contribute most to the UK are selected for entry and that
the country takes in only as many people as our economy needs at
any one time.
The consultation is part of the on-going implementation of the
five year strategy on immigration and asylum published in February
this year which underlined the Government's commitment to deliver
strict, flexible and fair immigration controls that work in the
interests of Britain, sweeping away the complexity of the current
system.
The main aims of the new points-based system will be to:
- improve public confidence in the system;
- fill skills gaps;
- attract highly productive and highly skilled workers
and students;
- attract investment and increase productivity and flexibility
in the labour market; and
- ensure people leave at the end of their stay.
Tony McNulty said:
"The public need to have confidence that our immigration system
is properly run and enforced, with strict controls that work. People
need to understand clearly who is allowed into the country and why,
who is allowed to settle permanently and why - and that these decisions
are taken in the interests of Britain. This consultation is designed
to achieve just that.
"This country needs migration - tourists, students
and migrant workers make a vital contribution to the UK economy.
We need to ensure, however, that while we let in migrants with the
skills and talents to benefit Britain we stop those who are trying
to abuse our hospitality and place a burden on our society. We will
ensure that the new system is underpinned by measures to ensure
that we only admit those who meet our criteria, that people stick
to the terms of their leave to enter while they are here and leave
when they are supposed to.
"Our proposals include measures to keep the system robust
against abuse, which would mean that those who benefit from migration
- employers, educational institutions and migrants themselves -
must play a part in helping to ensure that the system is not abused.
The Government will also continue to exercise robust powers to exclude
or to remove from the UK any people who threaten the public good
including national security."
The new points-based system would include a web-based self-assessment
programme, which will allow applicants, their sponsors and employers,
to understand whether they meet the UK's criteria for entry before
submitting an application. Under the scheme only migrant workers
in the top two tiers, for skilled and highly skilled workers, will
be allowed to settle in the UK after five years, increased from
four.
As part of the Government’s drive to ensure a clear and consistent
set of rules for how long people have to have lived in the UK before
they become eligible for settlement, the Government is also replacing
immediate indefinite leave to remain for refugees with an initial
grant of five years' limited leave that would be subject to review.
This policy will take effect from 30 August and is within the spirit
of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, which states that someone
is only entitled to refugee status for as long as the conditions
which mean they would be at risk of persecution continue to exist.
The Government has also announced today a start date of November
1 for would be citizens to begin taking the Government's new knowledge
of the UK tests.
Tony McNulty said:
"We want to encourage individuals who want to settle here
to play a full part in their wider community. Embracing a common
language and an understanding of life in the UK is important in
achieving effective integration, good race relations and community
cohesion is a central part of our managed migration policy which
benefits our society and economy."
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