UK Immigration News

The UK can still hit the government's target of cutting net immigration to below 100,000 by 2015, according to Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps. Mr Shapps was speaking on the BBC's Sunday morning politics programme The Andrew Marr Show.

In February, the latest UK net immigration figure showed that net immigration had risen by 59,000 in a year from 153,000 in the year to September 2012, to 212,000 in the year to September 2013.

The UK's Coalition government has been accused of withholding a report prepared by civil servants because it suggests that the Government has greatly over stated the "negative effects of immigration to the UK".

The BBC television news programme Newsnight has alleged that the government has delayed publication of the report because its findings disagree with earlier research prepared for the government which found that 23 Britons are displaced from jobs for every 100 immigrants who come to the UK.

The UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has recommended that there should be changes to the Tier 1 (Investor) visa because they say it is of questionable benefit to the UK taxpayer. One of their recommendations is that the UK should auction off 100 premium investor visas each year in a sealed auction.

The UK has had an investor visa since 1994. The Tier 1 (Investor) visa was instituted as part of the UK's five-tier visa system in 2008. The MAC's chairman, Professor David Metcalf has previously questioned the value of the Investor visa route.

British employers are advertising for Romanians to come to the UK and fill job vacancies. The highest number of vacancies is in the health care sector. NHS trusts throughout the UK are seeking doctors and nurses. There are also many vacancies in care homes for the elderly and in social work but it seems that Romanians are no longer interested in working in the UK.

David Willetts, the UK's science minister, has blamed a fall in the number of students coming to study in the UK from the Indian sub-continent on the 'lively' press in India and Pakistan.

Mr Willetts told Total Politics magazine that falls in the number of students from India and Pakistan studying at UK universities were caused by a false perception that the UK was not welcoming to genuine students.

The European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Laszlo Andor has delivered a speech in which he said that EU immigration has been of great benefit to the UK. He added that claims by the UK government that EU citizens were coming to the UK to claim benefits were completely untrue.