NY Times: “U.K.’s New Immigration Rules Will Restrict Low-Skilled Workers”

The UK government last week announced plans to block low-skilled workers in order to cut overall immigration from Europe and elsewhere. Under a new post-Brexit points-based immigration system starting January 2021, immigrants to the UK will have to meet certain criteria to qualify for a work visa, including having specific skills, the ability to speak English, and having a job offer with a minimum salary threshold of £25,600 (about $33,300), with only some exceptions.

“Today is a historic moment for the whole country,” Priti Patel, the home secretary, said in a statement regarding the plans. “We’re ending free movement, taking back control of our borders and delivering on the people’s priorities by introducing a new U.K. points-based immigration system, which will bring overall migration numbers down.” Patel said the new immigration system would “attract the brightest and the best from around the globe, boosting the economy and our communities, and unleash this country’s full potential.”

Some UK employers have objected to the plan, noting that they have struggled to recruit local people to fill positions. In 2017, food chain Pret a Manger said that only one in fifty applicants for jobs in its restaurants were British. Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry, the country’s main business lobby group, warned in a statement of the implications of the plan. “In some sectors, firms will be left wondering how they will recruit the people needed to run their businesses. With already low unemployment, firms in care, construction, hospitality, food and drink could be most affected.”

According to estimates, seventy percent of European Union workers currently in Britain would not have met the new requirements, and so the overall number of immigrants is likely to decrease in the future. The Institute for Economic Affairs, a free market research institute, said that a points-based immigration system was likely to have unintended consequences. Kristian Niemietz, the institute’s head of political economy, told the New York Times. “Businesses need a variety of workers — with a range of skills and salary expectations — and are better placed than the state to decide what is missing from the current labor market.” Quartz is offering an online test for those wondering if they would qualify under the points-based system.