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Strict rules designed to curb immigration that have made it “a pain in the neck” to recruit overseas engineers into the UK, could be changed under proposals being worked on by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.
Speaking at the Innovate UK event in London today, Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “I'm restricted about what I can say, but it's a pain in the neck to get visas for overseas engineers that are needed here. Immigration is a politically toxic issue. My department is trying to organise an economic rationale for highly skilled workers to come into the UK with minimum impediment. But, we're operating in an awkward political environment.”
A move to relax entry rules for highly skilled workers would signal a U-turn for the Coalition government at a politically sensitive time before next year's general election. The government introduced changes to the UK's visa system soon after it was elected in 2010 in an effort to reduce net immigration to below 100,000 people a year. The changes have made it more difficult for engineers outside of the EU to gain entry into the UK to work, particularly for foreign graduates.
The changes to the visa system include the closure of the Tier One stream, which allowed any skilled professional to work in the UK without sponsorship, or any foreign graduate to work in the UK for two years after graduation. The government also placed a cap of 20,700 on Tier Two visas for skilled worker visas. Both Tiers cover engineering and technical jobs across all industry sectors.
Several industry and political figures have criticised the government's policy as harmful for the UK's industry and scientific research base, including inventor and appliance manufacturer Sir James Dyson, who earlier this year said that the government clamp-down was causing a “crisis in engineering”.
The Tata Motors European Technical Centre is based at the University of Warwick in Coventry and conducts engineering design for the automotive company's vehicles. The centre employs more than 80 engineers and works closely with Tata Motors’ Engineering Research Centre in Pune, western India.
Nick Fell, director and head of Tata Motors European Technical Centre, said that the visa changes had caused a administrative overhead to the running of the business. “As an engineering services company, the mobility of our labour is fundamental to our ability to work together with our colleagues in India. Flexibility with visas is hugely important, the raison d'etre to them working with the UK."