UK to tighten visa conditions to reduce net migration
On December 4th, the UK government announced plans to reduce the number of migrants arriving legally and increase the minimum salary they must earn in skilled work by a third, Reuters reports
The decision comes amid pressure on PM Rishi Sunak to combat record levels of net migration.
“High levels of legal migration have dominated Britain's political landscape for more than a decade and were a key factor in the 2016 vote to leave the European Union,” the publication reads.
British PM Rishi Sunak has vowed to tighten his grip on the situation after Conservative Party lawmakers criticised his performance ahead of next year’s elections, with the opposition Labour Party far ahead in opinion polls.
“Businesses and trade unions both attacked the measures as counterproductive and challenging for the private sector and state-run health service, both dogged by labour shortages,” Reuters reports.
Annual net migration to the UK hit a record of 745,000 last year and has stayed at high levels since, data showed last month. Moreover, most of the migrants no longer come from the EU, but from countries such as India, Nigeria and China.
British Interior Minister James Cleverly said the new measures would help reduce that number by about 300,000 people. He also noted that the government would raise the minimum salary threshold for foreign skilled workers to £38,700 from its current level of £26,200, but the cap would not apply to health and social care workers.
