LinkChinese UK News

Simon Hattenstone reports in the Guardian the story of Sandy (Jing Zhou) who, as many in the similar situation, is caught between the retrospective policy change by the Home Office, and the refusal of her employer to raise her hourly wage from £6.15 to £7.02. Having been working as a senior care worker for four years, she is now facing deportation.

From the Guardian:

Sandy loved her job. Yes, she was paid only £6.15 an hour, yes, it was hard work and required enormous patience, but she was born to care for people. She blushes and says she’s not being boastful, but she knows she was good at it. “People would say, ‘Are you on tonight, Sandy? Are you on tomorrow? Oh brilliant.’ They trust me because I love my work. Some of these people haven’t got family - no children, no family. They trust me, because they know I do this job with my heart.”

After four years in a Southern Cross care home, helping elderly people get on with their lives, Sandy, who is from China, was planning to apply for indefinite leave to remain in Britain. She assumed it would be a foregone conclusion. After all, she was doing vital work, paying her taxes, and her daughter was slap-bang in the middle of A-levels.

But in July this year she received a letter from the Home Office. It stated that senior care workers no longer qualified for work permits. The Home Office had re-assessed the job, decided it was insufficiently skilled to warrant a permit, and that Sandy would have to return to China in October.

Read the full story.

 

UK Home Office announced that from the first quarter of 2008, when the points based system will be introduced, applicants will be required to demonstrate their English level. Individuals will be asked to provide evidence that they have passed an English language test.

(more…)

 

The Times reports:

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, was forced to apologise today after the Government admitted that its figures on the number of migrant workers in Britain were wrong by more than a third.

Ms Smith said it was “bad” that the statistics originally issued for the increase in foreign nationals since 1997 had been incorrect.

Her remarks came after Peter Hain, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said that the increase in foreign nationals working in the UK since 1997 was 1.1 million, 300,000 more than previously stated.

The confusion deepened further tonight after a third figure emerged suggesting that 1.5 million additional foreign-born workers had entered the UK in the last decade. The Government said that the figure included 400,000 British citizens born overseas.

Ms Smith said: “Of course it is bad that these figures are wrong and ministers have apologised for that, I am sorry about that. But the important point is that actually there are 2.7 million more jobs in this country than there were in 1997.

Full reports.

 

The Times reports:

David Cameron will enter the political minefield of immigration today with a call for measures to meet the challenge of rapid population growth.

In his first major speech on immigration and population, the Conservative leader will attack Gordon Brown for failing to tackle the root causes of Britain’s growing demographic problems, ensuring that it will become an issue for the next election.

In a speech to the Policy Exchange think-tank, Mr Cameron will call for a “grown-up conversation” about population growth. Britain’s population is set to rise by nine million over the next 20 years, because of higher life expectancy and higher net immigration, along with a big rise in the formation of new households as more and more people live alone.

Full report.

 

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown will announce new English tests as additional requirement for skilled migrants from non-EU countries today when addressing at a TUC conference.

The Guardian reports:

All skilled workers entering Britain from outside the EU will from next year be required to be proficient in English equivalent to GCSE level with the same requirement likely to be imposed on intermediate skilled workers soon after.

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, told BBC 1’s Sunday AM: “One of the ways in which I think we can make sure that people integrate more quickly…is by expecting people who are coming here through the skilled and slightly less-skilled route to actually be able to speak English.”

At the moment only workers in the “highly skilled” category need to demonstrate that they can speak English before they are given permission to work in the UK. Separate language tests exist for those seeking right of abode or citizenship in the UK. The government estimates 35,000 of the 95,000 skilled migrants who entered the UK last year would not have been able to show they could speak the language. The requirement cannot be imposed on migrants from the EU since they enjoy free movement of labour under EU rules.

The Conservative immigration spokesman, Damian Green, said: “This will be a relatively minor measure unless it leads to a cut in the numbers of people coming here.”

 

The retrospective application of tightened HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrants Programme) rule last year by Home Office breached human rights and must be scrapped, the joint Commons and Lords Human Rights Committee said.

HSMP is aimed to attract skilled workers to work and start business in the UK. the applicants were assessed in a point-based system, and if successful, would be granted a visa enabling them to work in the UK not affiliated with a particular employer. Under the original rule, a HSMP visa holder can apply for permanent residency (Infinite Leave to Remain, ILR) status after four years if they are ecomonic active.

Last year Home Office changed HSMP rule so that applicants must work for five years before they can apply for permanent residency. The new rule was not only applicable to new applicants, but also to those who were already in the UK before the announcement. The retrospecive application of new HSMP rule proved to be controversial. A campaign organised by affected HSMP holders has since tried to challenge the retrospective application, arguing that it’s a breaking of fairness and trust by the Home Office.

The Committee’s chairman, Labour MP Andrew Dismore, said that while the government has entitled to introduce the changes for new entrants, it was ‘cheating’ on the deal offered to those who has entered under the original rules. He said, “These changes are patently unfair, truly a case of movine goalposts during the match.”

The report said that was a clear breach of the right to respect for home and family life contained in Article 8 of European Convention of Human rights.

The full report can be read from Parliament’s website.

BBC’s report.

 

The Guardian newspaper reports that Commission of Racial Equality has written to the Border and Immigration Agency’s director general, Lin Homer, warning that the Highly-Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) reform carried out last year breached anti-discrimination laws.

The changes, in particluarly the retrospective application of the prolonged time required for permanent residence, have caused controversy. Those had successfully applied for HSMP and already been in the UK under the expection that they would be entitled to apply for permanent residence after four years were told that they had to wait for one more year. There has been long term campaign against this change organised by those affected.

Nick Johnson, director of policy and public sector of CRE, told Ms Homer that the race equality assessment of the changes to the HSMP does not fully comply with the requiremens of the Race Equality Duty. Mr Johnson asked officials to respond within the month.

Amit Kapadia, spokesman for the highly-skilled migrants programme forum, said: “It is completely unfair. We are not against the government making immigration changes, but it is wrong to apply them retrospectively.

“People came on pledges made by the government - that they would be able to settle in four years - and have sold properties and brought their families. Now their plans have been devastated.”

The Guardian’s Tania Branigan reports:

Migrant scheme reforms may have breached law, CRE warns

The government breached anti-discrimination laws after controversial changes to its immigration programme for highly-skilled workers, the Commission for Racial Equality believes.

The watchdog has written to the Border and Immigration Agency’s director general, Lin Homer, warning that it carried out an inadequate assessment of reforms before their introduction late last year.

The highly-skilled migrants programme (HSMP) was launched in 2003 and allowed workers pledging to make Britain their main home to claim permanent residence after four years. But campaigners say up to 40,000 people already living in the country, such as entrepreneurs, IT specialists and scientists, have been affected by the retrospective application of new rules designed to stop abuse of the system.

Read the full report.

 

The new IGS (International Graduate Scheme) form and guidance document are available from the new Border & Immigration Agency website’s application forms page. This forms page is different from the previous Working in the UK forms page.

The IGS form can be used by any international students of non-EEA nationals graduated after 1 May 2007 to apply for a visa which enables them to work in the UK for up to 12 monthes after their graduation. This replaces the previous SEGS visa.

 

BBC reports that new point-based system will start from 2008, according to Immigration minister Liam Byrne.

In a visit to Australia, which uses similar point-based immigration system, Liam Byrne announced the timetable of implymentationof the new point-based five-tier migration system. The first tier, for Highly-skilled workers such as scientists and entrepreneurs, will be launched at the beginning of 2008.

Later in the year, the tiers of Skilled workers, Low skilled workers, and Temporary workers will follow.

The tier for international students will be launched at the beginning of 2009. Under the new system, international students will have to find sponsorship from government-recognised educational insitituions. Home Office’s Border & Migration Agency recently announced the launch of International Graduate Scheme (IGS), allowing non-EEA graduates to work in the UK for up to 12 months after completion of their study in the UK.

With the exception of Highly-skilled workers, migrants in all working categories will have to have the sponsorship from UK employers. This, according to the government, will ensure compliance with the immigration rules.

(more…)

 

Home Office’s Border & Immigration Agency announced on 16 April 2007 the immediate addition of Teacher in Scotland into the National Shortage Occupation List for Work Permit. This includes all posts in Scotland covering compulsory schooling.

Removed out of the National Shortage List are Senior Physiotherapists, Salaried General Dental Practitioners, Salaried Assistant Dentists, and Salaried Vocational Dental Practitioners. This will take effect on 29 May 2007.

Link to the announcement on Working in the UK website.