Immigration Barristers' Blog

The creation of a sustainable selective immigration system that encourages the brightest and best to come to the UK has been reaffirmed by Immigration Minister Damian Green.

At a speech at the policy exchange, the minister expressed a desire to 'raise the tone of the immigration debate' and start building a national consensus on how immigration can be made to work for Britain.

The government will soon be announcing further changes to family migration and reforms to settlement, breaking the link between temporary and permanent migration. It will also be completing its changes to eliminate abuse of the student visa route and is currently reviewing the annual limit on skilled economic migrants.

In his speech the Minister expressed his intention that the long-term transformation of British immigration policy will introduce greater selectivity. He added that the 'points based system' of the past should ultimately be replaced by a 'contribution-based system' where migrants are checked to ensure they will add to quality of life in the UK.

This is already starting with the development of more selective routes for entrepreneurs, investors and those with exceptional talent alongside existing routes for entertainers, trainees and researchers.

The minister confirmed the introduction of a new route for international graduate entrepreneurs - international students who have engaged in innovative entrepreneurial activity during their studies and want to stay on afterwards to develop their business ideas.

The government will also improve the system for some short-term business visitors and entertainers to ensure world-class performers are encouraged to come here.

Recent research by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) into the impact of immigration on the UK labour market has revealed that increased immigration was not associated with increases in claims for Jobseekers Allowance.

Existing research on the labour market impact of immigration to the UK has generally found little or no impact on average, with at most a generally modest impact on the less skilled. This paper adds to that evidence by using a more comprehensive and reliable data source, and updates the analysis to include the recent recession.

The paper presents initial results on the impact of migration inflows on the claimant count rate using previously unused data on National Insurance number (NINo) registrations of foreign nationals, which researchers regard as superior in a number of respects to data on migrants from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

In contrast to the LFS, which is a sample survey of the entire population at a point in time, NINo registrations to overseas nationals are complete administrative data on new migrant inflows, largely for employment purposes, giving reliable estimates at much smaller geographies than is possible with the LFS.

The research found no association between migrant inflows and claimant unemployment. In addition, researchers tested for whether the impact of migration on claimant unemployment varies according to the state of the economic cycle, and found no evidence of a greater negative impact during periods of low growth or the recent recession.

A recent European Parliament resolution has said that all EU Member States should lift labour market barriers to Bulgarians and Romanians. It states that there are no real economic justifications for restricting their fundamental right to work and reside in any EU Member State.

EU countries may prolong a temporary ban on Bulgarian and Romanian workers for two additional years, i.e. until December 2013, only if they notify the Commission, by 31st December 2011, of a "serious threat" to their labour markets.

MEPs say that no negative effects have been reported in those Member States that have allowed workers from Member States that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 onto their labour markets.

Nevertheless, a number of Member States have decided to continue applying restrictions to Romanian ad Bulgarian workers, due more to political pressures than to any justified fear of negative effects on their economies or labour markets, says the resolution.

Recent Eurostat data also show that workers from Romania and Bulgaria have had no significant effect on wages and unemployment rates of the host countries. At the end of 2010, workers from Bulgaria and Romania residing in another EU country represented 0.6% of the total EU population.

The European Parliament asks the European Commission to propose a clear definition of the "serious disturbances of labour markets" required to justify restrictions. Member States that maintain restrictions without "a clear and transparent socio-economic justification of a serious labour market disturbance", in line with Court of Justice rulings, are in breach of the treaties, MEPs say, calling on the Commission to ensure compliance with the principle of free movement.

Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg Malta, the Netherlands and UK all still restrict the access of Bulgarian and Romanian workers to their labour markets. Spain is also restricting Romanian workers' access, with the Commission's approval, until 31st December 2012, due to serious disturbances on its labour market.

Controls to restrict how Bulgarian and Romanian nationals access the UK labour market are to be extended until the end of 2013. This means Romanian and Bulgarian (EU2) nationals seeking to work in the UK will continue to require permission from the UK Border Agency before they can work in the UK.

A report from the independent Migration Advisory Committee looked at the impact on the domestic labour market if the transitional controls were removed. It found that lifting the current restrictions could cause more EU2 nationals to come to the UK to work, particularly in lower skilled occupations where there is greater risk of displacement of resident workers and a negative impact on wages.

Permission to work will normally be given only where the worker has a specific job offer and the work is in skilled employment for which the employer has been unable to find a suitably qualified resident worker. There are also quota-based arrangements for lower skilled jobs in the agricultural and food processing sectors which will stay at the same level for 2012 and 2013.

The extension of the restrictions does not affect the position of those who have already been authorised to take employment in the UK.