UK announces new restrictions for foreign workers

The UK government on Wednesday announced a set of measures to help British workers through the recession, and to be more selective about the migrants coming to the UK. The measures, unveiled by British Minister of the Interior Jacqui Smith, are meant in particular to raise the bar for the foreign workers wishing to enter the UK from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), Info-Prim Neo learned from a press release issued by the UK Embassy in Chisinau. “Jacqui Smith pledged to use the flexibility built into the Points Based System (PBS) to respond to changing economic circumstances – helping British workers through the hard times of the recession”, the release reads. The British Government has already suspended Tier 3 PBS to ensure no foreign national from outside the EEA can come to the UK and work in a low skilled job. The UK Interior Minister announced three significant changes to support British workers: employers must advertise jobs to resident workers before they can bring in a worker from outside the EEA; use each Shortage Occupation List to trigger skills reviews that focus on up-skilling resident workers for these occupations; and tighten new criteria against which highly skilled migrants seeking entry to the UK are judged, by raising the qualifications and salary level required for tier 1 of the PBS to a Masters degree and a minimum salary of £20,000.