Consultation Launch On Annual Limit In UK

01 Jul 2010

The UK government asked MAC to provide advice on the level of permanent economic migration limit for its first full year of operation. On 30 June 2010, MAC has launched a 12-week consultation on the annual limit of the number of non-EU immigrants admitted to work in the UK through Tiers 1 & 2. The consultation will be open for submissions until 7 September 2010, and the MAC advice will be presented to the government by the end of that month. A paper setting out the consultation questions and procedures for submitting evidence has been published.

The permanent limit is intended to be implemented from April 2011. MAC will take into account the social and public service along with economic impacts of immigration on the UK. An interim limit will be introduced to avoid a rush of applications and to ensure that the number of work visas issued stays below 2009 levels. A net migration will be set to a new limit of tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands. The investor, entrepreneur and post-study work categories of Tier 1 will not be included in the interim limit. In-country extensions under Tier 1 (General) will also be excluded.

The Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, Professor David Metcalf, said,"The Migration Advisory Committee is pleased that it has been asked to carry out this work and looks forward to working with its partners to develop robust and well-informed advice to the government".