U.K. to ease work visa norms

Government is to commission a review of its Shortage Occupation List.

The British government is to commission a review of its Shortage Occupation List, in a move that could eventually lead to a further easing of a cap on those using the main Tier 2 visa work entry route to Britain.

It follows Thursday’s announcement that doctors and nurses from non-EU countries, including India, would no longer be counted in the cap, and is the latest indication that Britain’s approach to immigration — under fire in recent months — is being subject to at least a certain degree of review and change under the new Home Minister Sajid Javid.

Welcomed by doctors

The move on Thursday was welcomed by the medical community — by removing an obstacle that had prevented the recruitment of hundreds of medical professionals, many from India, to fill crucial roles in the National Health Service. However, it also had a wider significance: with medical staff accounting for around 40% of all Tier 2 places, their removal from the list will mean that other sectors of industry, which had struggled to fill roles domestically, and had potential employees from abroad rejected after a monthly cap was reached in recent months, would face less pressure on this count.

“‘Coming in the wake of long-standing demand from Indian professionals, the news to ease the Tier 2 visa category by the British Government is a welcome development. This move will certainly smoothen the movement of highly-skilled professionals and increase overall competitiveness of the UK industry in the long run,” said Rashesh Shah, President FICCI.

The government is also to ask the independent Migration Advisory Committee to review the composition of the Shortage Occupation List. The official list is regularly reviewed by the MAC, and enables recruitment of non-EU workers in certain fields to be exempt from constraints (including around qualifications and pay) that apply to other workers.

Until December 2017, the annual cap on Tier 2 visas, which is broken down by monthly caps that vary, had been reached only once. However, since that time the cap has been reached every month, meaning that a large number of professionals from fields ranging from medicine to engineering and IT have been unable to take up jobs offered to them in the U.K. In May, it emerged that 6,000 skilled professionals had been refused the necessary visa between December and March alone, with industry bodies demanding immediate action.