Migrant Workers
Over recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of migrant workers coming to the East of England, particularly since the enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004.
In this region work with migrant workers is led by the East of England Development Agency, supported by the East of England Regional Assembly.
A Migrant worker is a person who migrates from one country to another for the primary purpose of work, whether permanently or temporarily.
Migrant workers thus can include the following categories:
- Nationals of the European Economic Area (EEA) who have a right to travel, live and work in the
UK.
- Nationals of all other countries who require a work permit, which is obtained by an employer who cannot find a suitable national to fill a post.
- Nationals of Switzerland and
British
Overseas
Territories and people employed in a limited number of activities, who require clearance to enter the
UK but do not require a work permit.
- Commonwealth Working Holiday makers: individuals between the ages of 17-30 who can work in the
UK for up to 2 years.
NB: Asylum seekers and refugees are not considered migrant workers as they enter the
UK other than for work reasons.
One of the new trends in migration has been arrival of workers from the European Union's new eastern states.
On 1 May 2004, ten countries -
Cyprus,
Czech
Republic,
Estonia,
Hungary,
Latvia,
Lithuania,
Malta,
Poland,
Slovakia and
Slovenia - joined the European Union (EU). From that date, nationals of
Malta and
Cyprus have had full free movement rights and rights to work, throughout the EU. Prior to enlargement, existing EU member states had the right to regulate access to their labour markets by nationals of the other eight countries - the 'Accession 8' or 'A8'. The UK Government put in place transitional measures to regulate A8 nationals' access to the labour market (via the Worker Registration Scheme) and to restrict access to benefits.
On 1 January 2007
Bulgaria and
Romania, often described as the A2 countries, joined the European Union. The Government announced on 24 October 2006 that nationals of
Bulgaria and
Romania would be afforded gradual access to the
United Kingdom's labour market. There would continue to be access for skilled workers who met the skills requirements of the
United Kingdom's work permit arrangements and the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. Access for lower skilled workers, however, would be quota limited and restricted to those accessing existing schemes (the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme and the Sectors Based Scheme) for the agricultural and food processing sectors. At the same time these low-skilled schemes would move to being restricted to Bulgarian and Romanian nationals only.
- The Worker Registration Scheme (WRS)
The Government has established a Worker Registration Scheme (WRS) to monitor the participation of workers from the A8 countries in the
UK labour market.
Local Government Analysis and Research (LGAR) has negotiated and secured access to local authority level Worker Registration Scheme data from the Home Office. See 'Related links' on the right.
NB. You can only access this information if you have a ".gov.uk" email address
On Friday 29 February 2008, a new immigration system was launched to ensure that only those with the right skills or the right contribution will be able to come to the United Kingdom to work and study. The points-based system enables UK Border Agency to control migration more effectively, tackle abuse and identify the most talented workers.
The key elements of the system are:
· it combines more than 80 pre-existing work and study routes into the United Kingdom into five tiers;
· points are awarded on workers' skills to reflect aptitude, experience, age and also the demand for those skills any given sector, to allow the United Kingdom to respond flexibly to changes in the labour market;
· it is a fair, transparent and objective system that will enable potential migrants to assess their likelihood of making a successful application and should help to reduce the number of failed applications.
- The points-based system - five tiers
Underpinning the new immigration system is a five tier framework. This will help people understand how the system works and direct applicants to the category that is most appropriate for them. The tiers are:
· Tier 1: Highly skilled individuals to contribute to growth and productivity;
· Tier 2: Skilled workers with a job offer to fill gaps in United Kingdom labour force;
· Tier 3: Limited numbers of low skilled workers needed to fill temporary labour shortages;
· Tier 4: Students;
· Tier 5: Youth mobility and temporary workers: people allowed to work in the United Kingdom for a limited period of time to satisfy primarily non-economic objectives.
The five tiers have different conditions, entitlements and entry-clearance checks. This will make the system easier to understand and use and allow us to adapt our policy on points and sponsorship to the very different needs of those entering the United Kingdom to work or study.
Tiers 3 and 5 are temporary routes and migrants in them will not be able to switch out of them once they are in the United Kingdom. Those in tiers 1, 2 and 4 will be eligible to switch between these tiers subject to meeting the requirements of the tier they want to switch to. Tiers 1 and 2 will potentially lead to settlement if settlement requirements are met at the time of that application.
Dependants are allowed under tiers 1, 2, 4 and 5, except where the main applicant is in the United Kingdom under the Youth Mobility Scheme. However, dependants are not allowed to work where accompanying a student (Tier 4) or a temporary worker (Tier 5) who has been given less than 12 months leave in the United Kingdom.
More information on how the point-based system works: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/managingborders/managingmigration/apointsbasedsystem/howitworks
Key documents: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/managingourborders/pbsdocs