The government plans to introduce a “cap” on immigration The number of immigrants from outside the European Union who should be allowed to come to the UK next year is to be published later.
The government’s Migration Advisory Committee will give their view on how many highly skilled and skilled workers are needed for the year from April.
Their advice will help ministers in setting the “cap” on migrant numbers.
David Cameron has pledged to halve net immigration to the UK so it is in the “tens of thousands”.
In September, Home Secretary Theresa May announced an interim cap, limiting the number of non-EU workers allowed into the UK to 24,100 – down around 5% – to April 2011.
The Government is still deciding the level at which the cap for next year should be set.
It has already made a major concession to industry, by exempting intra-company transfers from it, which account for the majority of skilled workers coming into the UK through Tier Two of the points-based system.
The Migration Advisory Committee works with industry to draw up a list of shortage occupations and recommends the number of non-EU migrants that should be allowed in to fill vacancies.
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