Government Eyes Easing UK Visa Rules
Will liberalising immigration rules attract the overseas skills that the UK needs?
Downing Street has not denied press reports that the government is looking at plans to make it easier for foreign workers to move to the UK.“We need to put measures in place so that we have the right skills that the economy, including the rural economy, needs to stimulate growth," a government spokesman told the Sun, which first reported the initiative.“That will involve increasing numbers in some areas and decreasing in others. As the prime minister has made clear, we also want to see people who are economically inactive get back into work.”
Ms Truss has said that she is “unapologetic” about “focusing relentlessly on economic growth”, even if that means implementing policies that might prove unpopular with some sections of her own Conservative Party.The Sunday Times reported that, in the coming weeks, the government is expected to raise the cap on the numbers of seasonal, overseas agricultural labourers allowed into the country, as well as expanding the SOL to meet the needs of various, higher-skilled professional sectors."Truss has told colleagues that she is keen to recruit overseas broadband engineers to support the government's pledge to make full-fibre broadband available to 85per cent of UK homes by 2025," the newspaper added."It has also been suggested that she could ease the English language requirement in some sectors to enable more foreign workers to qualify for visas."
There have also been reports that the government is looking at new visa routes for graduates from the world's top universities.As reported by relocatemagazine.com earlier this month, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) used Ms Truss's victory to renew its call for the new prime minister to adopt a five-point plan to reinvigorate the UK economy, including a liberalisation of the SOL.Simultaneously, the finance industry called on the new government to relax short-term business mobility rules to enable foreign business leaders to conduct more activities when they visited the UK.
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