Just saw this latest release on Immigration Statistics released by Home Office these are statistics covering migration from Eastern Europe, asylum applications, removals and voluntary departures  according to the numbers released for  May 2009  work applications from the eight accession countries have fallen to their lowest level since they joined the European Union (EU) in 2004, according to the latest Accession Monitoring Report

In the first three months of 2009 there were 23,000 applications down from 48,755 in the same period in 2008. The decrease is mainly explained by a drop in Polish applicants, which fell to 12,000 in the first quarter of 2009 from 32,000 in the same period in 2008. 

Phil Woolas claimed that these statistics reveal a balancing of immigration as more Eastern Europeans are now leaving the UK to return home. Indicating the increasing prosperity in post Soviet Eastern Europe or methinks it might be the tightening labour market within the UK

UK Border Agency fines UK Employers for hiring illegals

I was recently surprised to read that the UK Border Agency has carried out a series of raids on UK establishments that hire illegals.  Earlier in May this year, a Chinese restaurant in Colchester was fined £ 96,000 the biggest ever handed down by a court in Britain for employing illegal workers from Malaysia, China and Indonesia.

 The raid by the UK Border Agency and Police authorities follows similar raids on establishments in other parts of the country. A spokesman for the UK Border Agency confirmed that three people were arrested in the raids on suspicion of being illegal immigrants. The owners of the restaurants face a potential £10,000 fine for each illegal worker found.

 In her statement Gail Adams, the UK Border Agency regional director for the Midlands and East of England, said the record fine sent a clear message that both the agency and the court would not tolerate hiring of illegal workers.  

Whilst I agree that UK employers will now need to be more diligent in reviewing the paperwork of their immigrant employees, and if there are any doubts they can get additional information from UK Border Agency. It remains to be seen how effective such measures can be when you need the employers to also act as verifiers creating an additional burden on them

Genuine overseas students ‘denied entry to UK’

At a recent seminar in a City College I was talking to the students about how a ‘Great suspicion’ of foreign students by UK Border Agency was risking cashflow for higher education, complain business school leaders

The enforcement of complicated new visa laws are deterring overseas students who bring billions of pounds to the UK economy, business school leaders have warned. The government introduced a new points-based immigration system for non-European students on 31 March to prevent terrorists from entering the country, and to crack down on bogus colleges.

The British Council estimates international students are worth more than £8.5bn to the UK economy.

But as universities recruit for next year there is growing alarm that UK Border Agency officials are incorrectly interpreting the rules and rejecting genuine students, threatening a huge source of revenue when the UK is already in financial crisis.

It is encouraging that officials from the umbrella group Universities UK are meeting with the Home Office this week to raise the issue of lengthy delays and inconsistencies in visa decisions for students and staff.

Rather than focusing on fraudulent applications, officials are making decisions based on photo backgrounds and addresses written in the wrong order.

Problems will become increasingly serious for institutions as their recruitment cycle peaks in July and August and students are left unable to start courses in September.

In one case an application was rejected because a copy of a degree certificate from 20 years ago had been submitted, rather than the original.

Points Based System needs to be more inclusive

In a recent publication that I was writing for I was asked how I felt about the  UK Government’s Point Based System and whether it was an effective system. I had clarified that the system needed to be more inclusive to the needs of specialist industries that require creative minded resource. The restrictions of the points based system are impacting or are likely to impact industries as diverse as game developers to performing artists to medical fraternity.

 For instance a new research released by a UK Trade association of games developers that shows almost 63% of game developers had found it difficult to fill vacancies in their organisation’s workforce over the previous 12 months.

The game developers reporting skill shortages found it particularly hard to fill vacancies for programmers, artists and designers. The PBS for regulating migration to the UK gives preference to highly skilled migrants who are entrepreneurs, innovators or financially well heeled or high end research and engineering professionals. Often companies who are involved in the creative industries like hospitality and games development.

The current system could also lead to a shortage of Doctors as the requirement of a Master’s degree prevents qualified Doctors from applying under the Highly Skilled Migrants Program since a medical degree is only classed as a Bachelor’s degree.

The changes will also adversely impact medical students disallowing student doctors who have been studying in the UK for up to seven years to work in the NHS or privately, on completion of their course.

The new system for UK Visas also presents a challenge for performing arts group as it is now much difficult for performing artists to obtain Work Permits under the new Points Based System.

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