The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the spring budget in March, 2023. In this spring budget, he stated his plans to expand and develop the UK’s economic activities. One of the significant plans is to uplift immigration to the UK so that the UK consumes global talent on a big scale. The government wishes to help businesses suffering from workforce shortage and magnify the permitted activities under the business visit arrangements.
By bringing global talent, the UK would be competent to get through the workforce shortage effectively. Promoting immigration on a big scale will also help to expand the scope of economic development.
The objectives, plans, and intentions of the government seem positive for businesses. However, the outcomes of the policies may not be as effective as comprehended.
Grappling with the Workforce Shortage
In order to tackle the workforce shortage effectively, the UK government has appointed the MAC (Migration Advisory Committee). The core objective of this committee is to evaluate the shortage occupation list (SOL) for the construction and hospitality sectors. After the pandemic, these two sectors are highly affected due to the skilled worker shortage. And to ease the workforce shortage, the only straightforward method is immigration.
In order to overcome the workforce shortage, the UK government is open to adding five new occupations associated with construction to the shortage occupation list (SOL), as suggested by the MAC. These new five eligible construction occupations are as follows:
- bricklayers and masons;
- roofers, roof tilers, and slaters;
- carpenters and joiners;
- construction and building trades not elsewhere classified;
- Plasterers
This is set to go into effect before the summer break. The government will examine the SOL on a regular basis and make its choices based on the MAC. This committee will help the legal migration system to work effectively to fulfill the economic and business requirements.
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Lingering Challenges:
Considering these industries’ actual troubles, the changes made to the SOL seem helpful and constructive. However, people who wish to migrate to the UK via these newly eligible occupations will still have to fulfill the migration eligibility criteria.
In order to migrate to the UK, you must be meeting the below-listed criteria-
- Satisfying a minimum English requirement
- Supporting minimum salary threshold
- Employers giving mandatory fees related the Visa
The government-associated fees will remain the same for applicants applying for a UK visa via these new construction occupations. While many businesses have labor shortages, they may need help finding acceptable workers, paying the requisite salaries, or covering the government costs associated with sponsored visas.
It remains unclear whether these changes will fulfill their primary objective once deployed.
Streamlining Business Visitor Policies
It is expected that one substantial positive move would be the plan to streamline business visitor restrictions. This plan will allow visitors to perform a broader variety of commercial operations in the UK without needing a work permit.
The statement has confirmed that this would comprise broadening the scope of permissible short-term commercial activities and reviewing approved paid engagements, with the changes set to take effect in fall 2023.
All businesses are requested to look through the approved paid engagement and expansion of various business activities. This will help you to comprehend the following:
- what activities are approved for business visitors
- what would be considered approved as paid engagement
By following this, a business visitor will not be counted as working illegally in the United Kingdom.
Wrapping Up:
While these impending initiatives appear to be encouraging and inspiring. However, the scale of these improvements and the advantages they may ultimately give to firms with a digital workforce are not yet obvious.
The permitted activities are hoped to be expanded to include almost all intra-corporate activities. In addition to this, these approved activities will also be supporting overseas employees in conducting business with UK clients.
Although these improvements will overlap with the adoption of the Electronic Travel Authorization program so the red tape is minimized with one hand and will rise with the other.
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