UK will tighten visa rules for IT workers

December 10 2009 by Liam Clifford

The tier-2 UK visa points-based-system is to be changed in the new year

The UK will tighten immigration laws for Indian IT professionals from January, according to UK immigration officials.

From 2010, workers in this group will need to have a mandatory 12 months experience instead of the current rules stating workers only need 6.

Workers that fall under this category for UK working visas will however not be eligible for permanent settlement in the UK through this route. The consequences of this is that IT professionals who come to the UK via a company transfer will not be granted the right to remain even after the obligatory stay of five years.

UK immigration officials did not confirm reports that the Tier 2 category is changing because it was being exploited by Indian IT companies to bring foreign nationals into the UK.

Under the current rules an employer can fill vacancies in the UK with existing members of staff from abroad, via a intra-company transfer.

It has been claimed that this means jobs in the IT sector can be taken by migrants on UK work visas who are paid less than UK workers.

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