It is currently being widely reported in various UK news outlets that the threshold for recruitment of overseas workers is to be raised in autumn 2015.
Immigration measures announced in the Queen’s speech have alarmed the City amid fears that increasing regulatory burdens could make it harder to hire overseas workers.
The government says an immigration bill, which has yet to be put before parliament, would implement a visa levy on businesses to fund apprenticeships.
It is unclear as to what exactly will the planned levy entail. However, there are various suggestions circulating in the media, such us an increase to the salary threshold, which should currently ne at least £20,800, proposals for further increase in visa fees, a financial levy requiring the companies to pay a certain fee on top of the visa fees, NHS Levy and other compliance fees or non-financial levy, such as a requirement to provide a certain number of apprenticeships to EEA Nationals.
Whichever the measures the government would want to introduce, even a thought of these has already raised real concern in the financial and legal sectors, where companies look to recruit non-EEA nationals to fill skills shortages in specialist areas of practice.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, today said that the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had been asked by the Home Secretary to come up with a package of proposals as part of efforts to cut the numbers of non-EEA nationals coming in, which could potentially be implemented within months.
