CEM REPORT, MIGRATION | To strengthen and grow its economy British Prime Minister (PM) Liz Truss has revealed plans to make a major review of the nation’s visa system.
The PM said the review is majorly strengthening its labour force and addressing labour shortages in key industries.
The review could also endorse a loosening of the requirement to speak English in some sectors to enable more foreign workers into the country, Financial Times reports.
The review will further make changes to the “shortage occupation list”, allowing certain industries to bring in more staff — such as broadband engineers — from overseas, the newspaper said.
In a conversation with BBC, UK finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng explained that the review will not relax the immigration rules but will regulate immigration in a way that supports the nation’s economy.
“It’s not about relaxing rules. The whole point about the Brexit debate if we want to go down there was we need to control immigration in a way that works for the UK.”
Asked if more occupations would be added to the list of people who could come in, nm Kwarteng said that the interior minister would give an update in the coming weeks, as he had flagged on Friday.
“The Home Secretary will make a statement in the next few weeks. But we have to grow this economy.”
The Financial Times in its report also said the UK government was set to lift the cap on seasonal workers from abroad working in agriculture.
CEM towards the end of August reported that the UK had launched applications for the 2022 scale-up visa.
Scale-up visa targets bringing on board skilled individuals to rapidly growing sectors, like small enterprises, tech, and financial services in the country will enable UK-based businesses to bring in sought-after expertise and skills, that can boost their innovation and productivity and in turn keep contributing to the UK’s economy.
