Immigration: the UK government's Migration Advisory Committee wants your input

Sajid Javid, when Home Secretary of the UK, in June 2019 commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to carry out an in-depth analysis of potential future salary thresholds.

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Click here to tell the UK government your thoughts on employment and business immigration to the UK

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What is the current UK immigration salary threshold?

The salary threshold refers to a key component of the skilled worker route in the UK’s future immigration system. The MAC has been asked to determine the best mechanism for calculating the salary thresholds and the rates at which they should be set.Currently, all non-EU citizens working in the UK must earn at least £30,000 - and that salary threshold will be extended to EU citizens living in the UK after Brexit under current proposals. (Chief executives and senior officials have an experienced worker rate of £65,100 and SOC 2121 Civil Engineers have an experienced worker rate of £33,300.)There are numerous exceptions to this including:

• New Entrants are subject to a salary threshold of £20.800, or the 10th percentile of the occupation whichever is higher.
• The appropriate rate set for 24 (largely) public sector occupations, including secondary school teachers in specific subjects, nurses, paramedics and medical radiographers, are taken from national pay rates e.g. NHS pay bands.
• Pre-registration nurses and midwives are paid on the NHS Agenda for Change Band 3 rates subject to certain conditions.
• There are some occupations that have different appropriate rates applied depending on certain characteristics. E.g. Biological scientists are subject to Agenda for Change thresholds if they work in the health sector and architects
• have different thresholds depending on the stage of their training.

Could an Aussie-style points system work for UK immigration?

Following the appointment of the new Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and the subsequent change in Government priorities after Boris Johnson replaced Teresa May as Prime Minister, this commission was expanded on 3 September 2019. The MAC has now also been asked to look into an ‘Australian-style’ points-based system and how this might work in the UK. Specifically, the MAC has been asked to consider how points could be awarded to prospective migrants for different attributes, and to assess how salary thresholds could work within the context of this system.

Details of what the MAC will be specifically reviewing can be found on the MAC website.

The UK government is seeking your opinion on future immigration policy

The government, via the Migration Advisory Committee, has released a call for evidence. The MAC website has an online form that it would like stakeholders to fill out to help the committee gather evidence that will be most useful to feedback to the commission. You have until 5 November 2019 to submit your answers. 

Have your say on the salary threshold and Australian points-style system in the UK

It was rather difficult to find the actual link to the online form, but we at Relocate finally discovered it, deep within the government document we link to above. If you'd like to have your say on UK immigration policy - and we would urge you to participate to help safeguard British business: 

Click here to tell the UK government your thoughts on employment and business immigration to the UK

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If you were interested in this article, you might find the following helpful:

Prepare for Brexit with Relocate’s Global Mobility Toolkit Where do low-skilled workers fit post Brexit?UK immigration: Wide support for an extension of foreign student stay timeRegulator bans 'misleading' EU settled status adUK must get immigration policy right, warns CBI

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