Intellect has responded to the Migration Advisory Committee’s consultation on Tier 1, Tier 2 and Dependents. While we understand the need to support UK interests, we are concerned that any ‘knee jerk’ reactions to the economic situation could have much wider implications for the UK. The technology industry, like all sectors of the UK economy is a mixture of UK ‘home-grown’ companies and international organisations. Without this mixture, the UK technology would not be as successful as it is today and would certainly not be able to attract the European headquarters of so many of these international companies which provide many of the 1 million jobs. Foreign investment not only creates UK jobs but ensures continual attraction of other companies and new projects to the UK that could easily be situated elsewhere if incentives such as the migration arrangements were changed.
The suggested restrictions to the Inter-Company Transfer Tier 2 route in particular raises concerns for the technology industry who have a wide but essential use for this route. We have real concerns that there is still misunderstanding about how this route it used. For most technology companies there are three types of ICT Tier 2:
At present the current list of shortage occupations does not account for such detailed expertise that can be required for short term shortages or temporary projects. For some particular work, specialist in-house experience is required and for so many technology companies who use the global skills pool (international through to SMEs) the skill set may not be based in every country. With security being an increasing issue, the ability to use knowledgeable experts in particular systems or who have company understanding is becoming increasingly important.
We understand that in this current climate the Government is concerned about jobs in the UK, but it is also important to understand that there will be a natural correction in the number of staff coming in to the UK depending on the economic climate. Some companies have already reduced their intake by 50% as for most companies migrant labour is more expensive that local labour. However, it is important for the Government to understand that in today’s globalised & knowledge based economy, the movement of staff within an organisation across geographies (including UK) is critical for the efficient operations, survival and success of any Multi-national corporation (whether they are large or small). Too much restriction and the UK will not only become uncompetitive or unattractive to overseas companies but original indigenous companies could also look elsewhere to headquarter their operations, all having a much larger impact on the jobs available in the UK.
We are very concerned that any changes to the PBS will not only discourage global trade coming to the UK but will also destroy UK jobs associated with setting up and running global projects or manufacturing from the UK.
Download our response (PDF 485KB, members only)
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