Zenith

  • Latest News

    Monday, March 14, 2016

    Non- EU Migrants Earning Below £35,000 In UK Face Deportation

    Migrants from outside Europe who have lived in the United Kingdom (UK) for more than five years will have to prove they will be paid the new minimum threshold in order to stay in the country.

    According to a new Home Office policy stipulates that those who fail to demonstrate earnings of more than £35,000 will be denied settlement in the UK and will face deportation.

    But the UK’s Home Secretary, Theresa May is facing calls to rethink the “discriminatory” new earnings threshold of £35,000 for non-EU migrants that could starve Britain of vital talent in the teaching, charity and entrepreneur sectors when the changes take effect in April.

    Overseas workers who have lived in the UK for five years will have to prove they will be paid the new minimum threshold in order to stay in the country. The UK Government temporarily exempted nurses from the new rules last autumn in response to fears about widespread shortages of workers across the NHS.

    But the earnings threshold could be applied to migrant nurses in the future should the Government decide to take them off the Shortage Occupation List.

    Former Cabinet minister Alistair Carmichael, who was David Cameron’s Scottish Secretary before the election, said that discriminating on the basis of income would harm the UK’s place at the “forefront of the global economy”, while shadow immigration minister Keir Starmer said there were “real concerns” over how key industries would be affected.

    Mr Starmer, who served as the Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008-2013, urged ministers to “look more closely” at the threshold, which is currently £20,800 – around £5,000 less than the average UK salary.

    A petition launched at the beginning of the year called for the threshold to be reconsidered – it gathered more than 100,000 signatures and was debated in parliament last week.

    So what’s actually changing?
    To settle in the UK as a skilled worker, non-EU migrants need to have a Tier 2 visa. For this you need:
    An offer for a job in the UK that pays at least £20,800
    Have had at least £945 in your bank account for 90 days
    A certificate of sponsorship from your employer (which can cost between £536 and £1,476)
    To pay a £200 annual healthcare surcharge
    To prove your English language proficiency.
    After five years on this visa, skilled workers are able to apply for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ – and this is what is about to change.
    From April, anyone applying for indefinite leave to remain will need to earn at least £35,000.
    Nurses are temporarily exempt from this threshold, along with PhD-level jobs and any professions that have been on the official ‘shortage occupation list’ while the person has been living here.
    However, the earnings threshold could be applied to migrant nurses in the future.
    Teachers aren’t exempt (unless they are professors in certain disciplines). Even David Cameron’s mum has lost her job because of Tory cuts
    In fact, the Home Office’s own analysis of the policy in 2012 revealed that the new threshold would have a significant impact on teachers, IT professionals and marketing managers.

    What if I’ve been in the UK for more than five years?
    Then you won’t be deported – the new rule doesn’t apply to anyone who entered the country on a Tier 2 visa on or before April 5 2011.

    I’ve been here for a decade, will I be deported?
    No – as long as you’ve been living here for 10 continuous years, you can apply for indefinite leave to remain with no salary threshold.
    So if you came here in 2006 as a student visa, then moved directly onto a skilled workers’ visa, you can apply to settle here regardless of how much you earn.
    The only condition is that you can’t have left the UK for more than 180 days at a time, or 540 days in total.

    I’m here on a marriage visa, will I have to leave?
    No, the changes only apply to people on a Tier 2 visa



    • Blogger Comments
    • Facebook Comments

    0 comments:

    Item Reviewed: Non- EU Migrants Earning Below £35,000 In UK Face Deportation Rating: 5 Reviewed By: BrandIconImage
    Scroll to Top