Limits On Tier 1 And Tier 2 Applicants Outside The EU

The new arbitrary limits set on the number of Applicants from outside the European Union who can enter the UK has finally taken effect and to a far greater extent than was expected.

Whilst only halfway through October the number of Applicants soon exceeded the quota and the consequence is that a number of businesses seeking to bring in highly skilled executives and staff are now limited in bringing those people into the country and will have to wait until next month. All businesses seeking to bring technicians, executives and specialised skills from outside the EU will need to make their Tier 1 or Tier 2 Applications as early as possible in order to ensure that those employees and experts are able to enter at an appropriate time for them to carry out the work necessary.

It is believed that this has been a surprise to the government who were not expecting this number of people to be entering from outside the EU. There are naturally concerns from businesses that these limitations will cause them not to be as successful or expand as quickly as hoped. All this at a time when the government were hoping that the private sector might be able to take on staff who are losing their jobs from the public sector. Clearly the abilities of companies to gain appropriate skilled employees will mean that overall their ability to grow and take on public sector employees is limited. It may be that the government will have to rethink their position. However, there are no plans to do so at the present time in connection with this politically sensitive area of policy.

Since originally writing this article on the 25th of October the Prime Minister David Cameron has told business leaders that they would still be able to bring in the “best talent” to Britain, even after the cap on immigration. We have no idea what “best talent” means as this is very dependent on the industry and the individual business. Does it include Chinese nuclear scientists, US chemists, Australian sheep shearers? A clear policy needs to be devised and implemented.