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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 settlement in the UK, the government has announced. | |
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. | |
The pay threshold will apply to people wanting to remain permanently after more than five years working in the UK. | |
Currently no earnings level is imposed. | |
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. | |
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. |