Firms given immigration cap deal

The numbers of migrant workers coming to Britain from outside the European Union will be capped to 21,700 from next year.

The regulations announced yesterday by Home Secretary Theresa May will see a new minimum salary of 40,000 for firms using intra-company transfers (ICTs) to bring their own people into the UK for more than a year for specific jobs – but employees staying for less than 12 months will be exempt.

Britain's largest union, Unite, has warned that firms will seek to abuse the system, "manipulating tax and accommodation allowances to undercut UK resident workers". But this was denied by Mrs May, who said she did not expect to see businesses "gaming around these arrangements".

She added: "We've listened to business in putting these arrangements in place and we've delivered a package that I believe is right for business.

"There are genuine reasons sometimes why businesses need to bring people in for less than a year. Perhaps there's a particular project and they need to bring some expertise from another branch of the company."

The number of migrant workers coming to Britain from outside the EU will be cut by a fifth, capped at 21,700 from next year, and the number of skilled workers with job offers will be capped at 20,700.

But the number of highly skilled workers without a job offer will effectively be scrapped and replaced by up to 1,000 visas for those with "exceptional talent", which will include sports people and scientists.

Mrs May said the inclusion of scientists in this new route would help address the concerns of universities who fear the cap could make it harder for the UK to attract the world's best researchers.

But to fulfil the Government's pledge to cut net migration from 196,000 to tens of thousands by 2015, she confirmed that all routes to entry – work visas, student visas, and family visas – would have to be tackled.

Unite national officer Peter Skyte said: "The Government has squandered the opportunity to deal with misuse and abuse of the intra-company transfer scheme in its migration cap announcement in the face of largely empty threats by big business to withdraw investment from the UK.

"The measures announced will do little to prevent employers from abusing the system, and manipulating tax and accommodation allowances to undercut UK resident workers."

Labour Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls claimed the policy was a "con" because there was no limit on the number of ICTs.

"The Government's immigration policy is in complete chaos and confusion," he said.

The director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, David Frost, said: "Businesses will hold the Home Secretary to her pledge to ensure that businesses will still have the flexibility to hire according to their needs."

Students coming to the UK to study a course below degree level – around 120,000 last year – will also be targeted as will those abusing the study route by using it as a means to stay on in Britain.

The international director of the Association of Colleges, John Mountford, warned that non-EU students coming to Britain on courses below degree level were subsidising UK universities and UK students by going on to degrees later.

"The cap is a clumsy approach – to cut numbers most effectively the Government should simply administer current policy properly," Mr Mountford said.