Employers will find it more difficult to recruit skilled migrants from overseas if the government accepts proposals to further tighten up the immigration system, a law firm has warned.
Alarm bells were sounded by Speechly Bircham following a Migration Advisory Committee report on the points-based immigration system, which outlines how the UK could do more to protect jobs for British workers.
Recommendations include:
*A requirement that migrant workers outside of the EU will earn £20,000 and workers without qualifications will earn at least £32,000
* Increasing the application fees for Tier 2 (the skilled workers category for those from outside the EU)
* Increasing the period that a role has to be advertised in the UK to four weeks
* Increasing the period before an employee can transfer from an overseas branch to the UK via an intra-company transfer from six months to 12 months.
Tracy Evlogidis, head of immigration at Speechly Bircham, said: "It is clear from the recommendations that employers will face an incredibly difficult task in recruiting skilled migrants from overseas, no matter how special they are and who they are.
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