Home Secretary Sajid Javid hinted that the United Kingdom government is set to relax immigration rules to allow more non-EU skilled workers into the country.
In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Javid said he “saw the problem” with the cap that sets a limit for all non-EU skilled workers at 20,700 people a year. He said he would take “think more carefully” about the cap on the number of skilled workers given visas. The government is to relax immigration rules to allow more non-EU skilled workers into the UK.
On Friday, the Home Office is expected to confirm that foreign doctors and nurses will be excluded from the government’s visa cap. It has been reported that 2,360 visa applications by doctors from outside the European Economic Area were refused in a five-month period because of the cap. In April, NHS bosses warned that immigration rules were hampering their ability to find workers after visas for 100 Indian doctors were refused. NHS England had 35,000 nurse vacancies and nearly 10,000 doctor posts unfilled in February.
More: BBC, NewZimbabwe.com