Pointing the way? : managing UK immigration in difficult times

The United Kingdom has moved to a new points-based system of managing the temporary and long-term immigration of workers, students and their families. It is designed to ensure that only workers with high-level and/or needed skills are selected and that students are genuine and of benefit to the UK. The government view is that the new system will provide it with the tools necessary to reduce labour immigration during the current economic downturn. The system is not yet fully operational but recent data on skilled immigration show that around 60 per cent of migrants are from the European Economic Area, and thus have the right to enter Britain for work, and that many others have been transferred by the multinational companies that employ them. Thus while the new system represents a definite administrative break with the past, its effects on selection and on overall numbers may be limited. Copyright. Monash University and the author/s