Sajid Javid urged to stop 60,000 non-EU citizens A YEAR slipping through migration cap due to ‘loophole’
Home Secretary Sajid Javid was urged to “close a loophole” allowing nearly 60,000 non-EU workers a year to bybass a migration cap.
Migration Watch said the number of multi-nationals exploiting inter-company transfers to bring in new recruits was up almost 25 per cent in the past decade.
Inter-company transfers don’t count towards the cap on skilled non-EU workers – set at 20,700 a year.
Migration Watch chair Andrew Green said: “Many people are asking why non-EU migration has not been reduced. Here is part of the answer.
“Either the Government have taken their eye off the ball or they have been too heavily influenced by a small group of companies and have ignored their own.”
Migration Watch said that since 1992, the number of ICTs (inter-company transfers) has increased eightfold. In 1997 the Home Office issued around 15,000 to workers and their families.
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This jumped to 47,000 in 2007 and 58,000 last year.
Two types of ICTs can be issued – from long-term staff visas to permits for graduate trainees.
Migration Watch’s blast comes just weeks after official figures revealed non-EU immigration pushed net migration to nearly 300,000 in the first full year since the Brexit referendum.
Net migration from EU nations fell to just over 100,000 in 2017 – the lowest level in five years. But the highest number of people came to the UK from outside the bloc for 13 years.
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