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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Immigrants 'have to earn £35,000' to settle - from 2016 | Immigrants 'have to earn £35,000' to settle - from 2016 |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Migrant workers will need to earn at least £35,000 to qualify for settlement in the UK, says the Home Office. | |
| Home Secretary Theresa May said the change - from April 2016 - would help cut the number of non-Europeans and their dependants 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. | The pay threshold will apply to people wanting to remain permanently after more than five years working in the UK. |
| Those who don't qualify will be ordered to leave the UK after six years. | |
| The pay threshold is the first time that a British government has imposed an economic test on the right to settlement in the UK. For decades, settlement has been granted on the basis of length of time living in - and ties to - the UK, recognising that people who have been living in the country for five years have made it their permanent home. | |
| Prime Minister David Cameron says 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. | 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' | 'Brightest and best' |
| In a written statement to Parliament, 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." | "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. | 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." | 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 will be waived for any "shortage occupations" if official advisers tell ministers that the UK needs more workers with skills or training. | |
| Scientists and researchers in PhD level jobs will also be exempt from the earnings test. | |
| Nicola Dandridge of Universities UK, said: "The government has responded to the concerns... by exempting PhD-level jobs from the new pay threshold for settlement. | |
| "We argued strongly that such international academics and researchers should be made exempt from any pay threshold on the basis that their salaries are not comparable to those of highly skilled migrants working in other sectors. | |
| "If we are to continue to produce Nobel Prize-winning research and groundbreaking work, we must offer a welcoming environment to the best academics from around the world." | |
| The government says it will also restrict the arrival of foreign domestic workers to those who are travelling with their employers, such as diplomats or business people temporarily working in the UK. | |
| 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. | 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." | "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 workers will not be able to extend their stay, switch employer, sponsor dependants or seek settlement. | |