News on PBS

[Eugene_UK]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770

Please share if you find more details

[Dawie]

Highly skilled foreigners who can speak English will be fast-tracked into Britain under the new points-based immigration system to be announced today.

Those with the best qualifications or top jobs in medicine, finance and business will be given priority.

Errr, sounds suspiciously like the HSMP doesn't it? Been around for years already, so not really a big "shake up".

They will also be alllowed to bring their families and settle permanently within five years.

Again, HSMP visa holders can do this currently, so where's the big "shake up"?

Doctors, engineers, entrepeneurs and IT experts will be in the top tier and can come to the UK without even a job offer to seek work.

Again, this is nothing new.

In a speech Home Secretary Jacqui Smith will call the measures the 'biggest shake-up of our immigration system in our history'.

Umm, not really.

Those in the lower tiers will only get entry for a fixed period to fill a specific vacancy. After that they must leave.

Germany tried this with Turkish migrant labour during the 70's and 80's. Didn't work very well and in the end produced a situation of hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised Turkish residents in Germany with no rights to German citizenship and no links to their native Turkey. Otherwise known as slave labour.

Only in the land of spin can a government department get away with rehashing old policies and call them the "biggest shake up in years".

[archigabe]

English tests were introduced for foreigners taking British citizenship from November 2005 and were extended to those seeking settlement in April this year.

Widening the scope to spouses is expected to have a particular impact on Britain's Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, which between them saw 17,000 spouses or fiances enter the UK from their home countries last year, sometimes as a result of arranged marriages.

"We are underlining how important we see command of the English language," said Mr Byrne.

"We are publishing a consultation document on whether English should be spoken by people who want to come to Britain as a spouse.

"We are not alone in introducing this chance - countries like Holland have already introduced similar provisions."

He added: "There are something like 47,000 foreign spouses who came to the UK last year.

Pretty significant if true.