UK Immigration News

The UK's Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, has announced a new benefits test which is designed to discourage jobless migrants from within the EU from coming to the UK to claim benefits.

The new test will require EU immigrants to provide details of their English ability and explain what steps they have taken to find work.

A report by a UK think tank suggests that if the UK's Coalition government is successful in reducing immigration to below 100,000 a year this could lead to reduced growth in the economy of 11% by 2060. This would, the report says, result in lower incomes and higher taxes for UK residents.

The research has been carried out by the Institute of Economic and Social Research, which calls itself 'Britain's longest established independent research institute' (it was founded in 1938).

The UK's deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has criticised plans prepared by the UK's Home Office to limit the number of immigrants coming to the UK from within the EU. He said that the proposals, which were contained in a document leaked to UK paper The Sunday Times, were 'illegal and unworkable'.

The Sunday Times published proposals from a leaked Home Office paper on Sunday 15th December 2013. The main proposals were

The UK Prime Minister David Cameron faces pressure from activists in his Conservative Party to extend the immigration controls on citizens of Romania and Bulgaria living and working in the UK-. Controls barring most Romanians and Bulgarians from working in the UK are due to expire at midnight on 31st December 2013.

Sir David Metcalfe, the head of the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) gave evidence to the House of Commons' Home Affairs Committee last week. He told the Committee that no one he asked knew why the UK's Tier 1 (Investor) visa had been established.

Sir David has been asked by the government to review the Tier 1 (Investor) visa stream. He was summoned to give evidence to the Committee on 10th December 2013 and was asked by Liberal Democrat MP Dr Julian Huppert to explain his findings about the Investor visa.

A report prepared for the UK's Home Office has suggested the imposition of an annual 75,000 cap on immigration from the EU to the UK. The proposal would help the UK government move closer to achieving its goal of reducing annual net immigration to below 100,000 every year. The report was obtained by journalists on The Sunday Times newspaper and revealed on Sunday 15th December 2013.

The report contained suggestions for ways in which the UK could limit immigration to the UK from within the EU. Among those suggestions were