Free Movement will end soon - CBI want your views about the UK Points-Based Immigration System (PBS)

The UK government is ending ‘free movement’ and will introduce an Immigration Bill to bring in a firm and fair points-based system (PBS) to attract the high-skilled workers needed to contribute to the UK economy, communities and public services. Their aim is to  create a high wage, high-skill, high productivity economy. They plan to deliver a system that prioritises the skills a person has to offer, not where they come from.

Recent Government policy states… “For too long, distorted by European free movement rights, the immigration system has been failing to meet the needs of the British people; failing to deliver benefits across the UK and failing the highly-skilled migrants from around the world who want to come to the UK and make a contribution to our economy and society.”

The UK  government recently published 130 pages of further details about the new planned UK points-based immigration system in response to which the CBI created a headline analysis here.

Overall, some things are welcome in this guidance but many questions remain unanswered; businesses will need much more detail before they can properly start to plan for the introduction of the new system. With this in mind, the CBI will continue to lobby the Home Office to publish the full, updated immigration rules as soon as possible. 

To inform the CBI’s wider lobbying approach on this new PBS, they have asked the MIA to bring together views from our members and their feedback on the implications of this on our business sector. Particular areas of interest are the points around switching between visas, changes to ICTs, and the reference made to the unsponsored route, but perspectives on any of the other elements are also welcome. 

Please share with your written responses with maddison.sreeves@the-mia.com who will collate and share with the CBI.