UK Immigration News

UK Government Announces Changes in Tier 2 Visa Rules

Changes to the UK Immigration Rules affecting Tier 2 of the points based system (the route for non-EEA workers with an offer of a skilled job in the UK), were laid before Parliament on 4 April 2012 and will come into force on 6 April 2012 and 14 June 2012, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced.

The changes follow a report from the Migration Advisory Committee published on 28 February 2012 which advised on the 2012-13 annual limit for the Tier 2 and associated policies.

Under the new rules, the current limit of 20,700 on the Tier 2 (General) category will stay and be renewed from April 6, 2012 and again from April 6, 2013 until 5 April 2014.

However the UK government will increase the skill level required by migrants who wish to work in the UK. The number of middle-management jobs such as IT technicians and security managers will no longer be available for migrant workers. Highly-skilled occupations such as architect, teacher or chemical engineer will still be available.

The government also loosens the rules for businesses around advertising highly paid and PhD jobs. Accordingly, companies will no longer have to advertise vacancies through JobCentrePlus. Moreover, companies will now be able to select the best candidate for PhD level occupations, even if they require Tier 2 sponsorship.

According to the UKBA's announcement, these changes, which are part of the government's radical overhaul of the UK immigration system, are aimed at improving the selectivity of the system to make sure that only the brightest and the best are able to come to the UK and work.

"The government has been clear that the UK is open for business and our limit has been designed with the industry's needs in mind," stated Immigration Minister Damian Green.

"We believe there is no incompatibility between economic growth and controlling migration - our reformed, more selective immigration system can achieve both."