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Immigrants 'have to earn £35,000' Immigrants 'have to earn £35,000' to settle - from 2016
(40 minutes later)
Migrant workers will in future need to earn at least £35,000 to qualify for a visa permitting them to settle in the UK, the government has announced. Migrant workers will in future need to earn at least £35,000 to qualify for settlement in the UK, the government has announced.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the change would help cut the number of non-European workers and their dependents granted settlement each year from 60,000 to 20,000. Home Secretary Theresa May said the change - from April 2016 - would help cut the number of non-Europeans and their dependents granted settlement each year from 60,000 to 20,000.
Currently no threshold on earnings is imposed by the government. The pay threshold will apply to people wanting to remain permanently after more than five years working in the UK.
The government wants to reduce annual net migration to "tens of thousands". Currently no earnings level is imposed.
It is aiming to bring the figure, which includes students and the families of visa holders, to below 100,000 by 2015. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he wants to reduce annual net migration to "tens of thousands" from the current level of around 250,000.
Figures published last week showed net migration was 250,000 in the year to June. It is aiming to bring the figure, which includes students and the families of visa holders, to below 100,000 by 2015 - a year before the latest restriction is due to come into force.
'Brightest and best'
In a written statement, Mrs May said: "Until now, settlement has been a virtually automatic consequence of five years' residence in the UK as a skilled worker. Those who have settled have tended to be less well paid and lower-skilled than those who have not.
"And the volumes of migrant workers settling have reached record levels in recent years."
According to official figures, in 1997 fewer than 10,000 migrant workers and their dependants were granted settlement, but by 2010 this had risen to 84,000.
Mrs May said: "So in future, we will exercise control to ensure that only the brightest and best remain permanently."
The £35,000 earnings threshold can be waived for certain "shortage occupations", such as scientific research, which are beneficial to the UK.
The government is also promising to reduce the numbers of domestic workers from overseas settling permanently in the UK - and to protect the human rights of those who come.
Mrs May said: "We recognise that the ODW (overseas domestic worker) routes can at times result in the import of abusive employer/employee relationships to the UK.
"It is important that those who use these routes to bring their staff here understand what is and is not acceptable. So we will be strengthening pre-entry measures to ensure that domestic workers and their employers understand their respective rights and responsibilities."
Under the new rules, overseas domestic workers who come to the UK with their employer must leave after six months.
Those working in diplomats' households can stay for up to five years.
The measures announced do not include foreign students wanting to stay on in the UK after getting a degree - the salary they need to earn to be able to work in the UK has been set at £21,000.