IT umbrella company contractors might be distressed to hear that the Migration Advisory Committee has recommended that the government should not make changes to the rules concerning intra-company transfers.
Some British IT contractors feel they are losing out under the Tier 2 visa system as organisations bring in non-EU workers, often paying them lower wages than they would for a UK employee. More foreign nationals now come to the UK to work via the ICT route than any other work visas.
MAC says it is unsure whether this has a detrimental (or beneficial) effect on the economy, but it does bring flexibility to the labour market. It therefore recommends that ICTs should remain in place as they are, with the minimum salary threshold at £40,000 for non-EU nationals working in the UK for over 12months and less than 5 years.
Large consultancy companies with their HQs in India will no doubt be delighted at this news. They regularly use the ICT route to import IT workers into their operations in the UK.
In 2009 22,000 non-EU nationals entered the UK on ICTs; in the 12 months leading up to September last year, that figure had jumped to 29,700 and the majority of those were software professionals.
Professor David Metcalf, the chair of MAC, said that some ICTs were invaluable to the UK, but he did acknowledge that the increased use of third party contracting in IT was a matter for concern. He went on to point out that the government could curb the use of ICTs by putting a cap on the number of transfers an individual is allowed to make or raising the skill level.
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Image: United colours of India by Marco Bellucci
