Increased foreign workers came to the UK on intra-company transfer visas

United Kingdom, 29th February: The number of foreign workers coming to the UK on intra-company transfer visas increased to 29,700 in the year 2011.

This has been revealed by the official figures revealed by migration advisory committee of the UK Home Office.

Surge in intra-company transfers of foreign staff--Findings of a recent report show that the UK government’s annual cap on skilled immigrant workers is being surpassed by majority of UK companies.

These companies are bringing an increasingly high number of their workers employed in foreign offices and plants. This is despite the fact that the UK government has been acting tough to curb immigration levels in the UK.

The year 2011 saw arrival of less than 10,000 immigrants but the arrival of 30,000 foreign staff through intra-company transfers failed efforts by the UK to control UK immigration levels.

Net UK migration has already reached record figure of 250,000.

The Conservative government has been reiterating to bring down the UK immigration level down to tens of thousands.

UK to combat intra-company transfers—Taking a cue from an increasing migration of overseas staff through the route of ICT (Intra-company transfer) used by several firms for bringing their foreign staff to the UK. In 2009, the number of ICTs was 22,000 and this went up to touch the figures of 29,700 in the year ending September 2011.

According to the MAC (Migration Advisory Committee) of the UK Home Office, the number of arrivals to the UK through the ICT per million of the total population was quite higher for the UK than for nations like Canada, Australia, Spain, the US, Ireland and Germany. Hence, this issue needs to be reviewed, states David Metcalf, chairman of the MAC.

How to limit the ICTs use--The UK government must increase the current income threshold, limit the total number of UK work permit available to any sponsor or raise the skill-sets needed for coming to the UK under the ICT scheme, suggests Metcalf.

The UK immigration minister Damian Green has welcomed the report findings. He maintained that the UK is already considering the report recommendations and the decision will be announced in the coming times.