Being a Trinidadian working in London on the now-retired Working Holidaymaker visa, I became a bit anxious when I read that migrant workers will face tougher test to work in the United Kingdom.This is as my permission to work here expires after a year of full-time work, although my visa allows me to stay in the UK on vacation for another year from then. I had recently planned to apply to switch to Tier 1 or Tier 2 status at the end of this period, given the nature of my work, my love for it, and my employer's desire to keep me on after this time. Now I am unsure if this can even happen.
The reason I think this amendment is short-sighted, and will eventually hurt the UK more in its recession period is that I cannot be alone in the situation I am in, i.e. although I have practical experience and an income level far above that of most people with a Master's degree, the proposed new measures would exclude me from working in the UK without one.
The UK, I predict, will thus see a massive brain-drain as the exodus of "truly skilled workers without Masters' degrees" who cannot now qualify for Tier 1 status would leave a gap even local British labour and new graduates will not be able to fill immediately, especially in the "emerging technologies" and IT fields that I work in.
Even if workers were able to convince their employers to jump through the new hoops for Tier 2 status, this would effectively leave a worker open to being the victim in similar horror stories to those I've heard from friends who were on the US H1-B Visa. The power of a Tier 2 employed worker to protest improper, inadequate or unsafe working conditions or inequitable compensation scales would be virtually non-existant as this would risk him losing his job and being asked to leave the country. Tier 2 visa holders would become like second-class citizens in the workforce, working side by side with British nationals, but having little avenues to address grievances unless they were with a benevolent employer.
Anyone know a good immigration lawyer who might be able to show me the fine print in this amendment and if I'm being too pessimistic about the expected outcome of events?
Monday, 23 February 2009
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