More UK work visas may be made available for Olympic site build

January 12 2010 by Liam Clifford

2012 Olympic sites may need extra workers from outside of the country to be completed on time.

Home Office advisors have suggested that more UK work visa holders and immigrants from the EU may be needed to complete the construction of the 2012 Olympics site in London.

As a result, a plan is being drawn up to relax UK immigration laws to allow more construction workers to work in the UK on major projects, including Crossrail and the High Speed Two railway line in northern England.

Other engineering projects that may be understaffed include the decommissioning of coal-fired power stations and the preparations for the World Cup in 2018, if England should win the right to host the event.

A scheme to relax the immigration laws to help construct these projects could mean a temporary abandonment of the UK’s points based system for immigrants wanting to move to the UK from outside the EU.

In order to find out if UK immigration is the key to filling labour shortages on engineering projects, the Migration Advisory Committee is sending a questionnaire out to construction firms asking: 'Would the needs of large projects be sensibly met through immigration?’ It will specifically ask whether unskilled labour from outside the EU would help. Reports are expected by the end of March.

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