Visa system for IT workers open to abuse

The IT systems underpinning the UK’s points-based immigration programme have been heavily criticised because they do not allow the UK Border Agency to identify when individuals’ visas have expired.

Government watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) reported that nearly 1,000 sponsoring employers do not comply with immigration rules, but the Border Agency’s “poor information systems” mean that it can “provide little assurance that it is effectively managing the risk of non-compliance with immigration rules by migrants and their sponsors”, the report stated.

“The underlying systems and management information are in need of improvement. Customer services do not meet customer expectations and the agency cannot easily identify and follow up individuals whose visas have expired,” said Amyas Morse, head of the NAO.

The points system was introduced to manage the number of migrants coming to the UK, while ensuring that companies can still employ people with much-needed skills.

The number of so-called Tier 2 applicants – skilled workers with a job offer to fill gaps in the UK labour force – has increased since the points system was introduced in 2008, but the NAO reports that most of these have not taken up positions “which meet national priorities”.

From April, the government intends to cap the number of Tier 2 visas it issues at 20,700 per year.

It has relaxed its stance recently, confirming that those earning more than £150,000 would not be subject to the immigration cap.

Last month Mike Lynch, chief executive of UK-based enterprise search company Autonomy, told Computing that the best way to increase the number of entry-level IT jobs in the UK would be to encourage more highly skilled people from abroad to settle here.

He said the government’s immigration cap was discouraging skilled IT staff and entrepreneurs from coming to the UK.

But according to the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), most firms employing overseas IT staff will not be affected by the cap. APSCo estimates that 80 per cent of non-EU IT workers come to the UK on intra-company transfers, which are also not affected by the immigration cap providing the employee earns more than £40,000.