- Home Office advisers warn numbers may drop by 50%
- Big reductions also in cases of family reunions
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Friday November 19 2010
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/18/non-eu-student-numbers-halved-immigration
The number of overseas students from outside Europe will have to be
cut by more than half if the coalition is to meet its target of
reducing annual net migration to Britain, the government's own experts
have warned today.
The home secretary's migration advisory committee (MAC) says that
overseas students and family reunion cases will have to bear 80% of
the reduction if the coalition target of reducing net migration from
196,000 last year to "tens of thousands" a year.
Professor David Metcalf, the MAC chairman, said this could mean
cutting the current annual flow of 163,000 overseas students from
outside Europe by 87,000 with deep cuts also required in the 55,000
people who come to join their families settled in the UK.
This is the first time that an authoritative source has put a ballpark
figure on the scale of the reduction in overseas students needed by
the coalition to drastically reduce the flow of migrants into Britain.
The details of the proposed cap on immigration are due to go to
cabinet next week with an announcement shortly afterwards.
The migration advisory committee also warned the government that
simply cutting the numbers of skilled migrants would only go about 20%
of the way in meeting their target of reducing net migration.
The migration experts say ministers should also now look at cutting
the 52,500 young adults who come to Britain each year on working
holidays ? many of them South Africans and New Zealanders working in
pubs and bars.
"It is not possible to reduce net migration to tens of thousands by
limiting work-related immigration alone. The committee assumes that
work-related migration takes 20% of the total cut ? its fair share ?
which implies that family and student migration must take the other
80%," said Metcalf.
The MAC recommends today that the number of skilled migrant workers
coming into Britain through tiers one and two of the points-based
system should be cut by between 13% and 25% next year ? limiting them
to between 37,400 and 43,700 ? when the permanent immigration cap
comes into effect next April.
This would be even tighter than the current temporary cap, which has
been in place since June. The MAC acknowledges squeezing the flow of
skilled migrant workers in this way could damage GDP to the tune of ?
360m a year because of the positive contribution they make to the
economy.
But Metcalf also made clear that while David Cameron has already
exempted the 22,000 extra specialists and managers a year who came
through intra-company transfers, their numbers would have to be
strictly controlled instead by raising minimum salary level or
qualifications to produce same effect: "There is more than one way to
skin a cat," said Metcalf, who added that 2,500 skilled migrants were
coming into Britain each month via this route.
He also gave broad hint that he expected a new category of "specially
talented people" to be created in tier one ? which covers the most
highly skilled ? to ensure that the "brightest and best" amongst the
scientific and other academic research communities were not excluded
as a result of the immigration cap.
The MAC report, published today however, makes clear that if the
government is serious about reducing net migration from 196,000 last
year to 50,000 a year then restricting work routes into Britain could
only do about 20% of the job.
Metcalf said that work-related migration has halved since 2004 while
those coming to study had grown substantially. He said that the
government's goal implied a 146,000 reduction in annual net migration
within the next four years, and overseas students would have to bear
60% of the cut while family reunion cases, currently running at 55,000
would have to take the remaining 20%.
Sarah Mulley, Associate Director at the Institute of Public Policy
Research, said: "The migration advisory committee's analysis shows
clearly how difficult it will be for the government to fulfil its
promise to cut immigration substantially. The government now faces an
unpalatable choice between introducing a policy which it knows will be
damaging to the economy and public services, or failing to fulfil a
key promise to the electorate."
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
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