The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP has said the point based system for immigration has room for improvement, especially when it comes to the rules regarding intra-company transfers.
The Committee of Public Accounts, of which she is the chair, published a report last week that made particular reference to the situation whereby IT contractors from outside the European Union are brought to the UK when our own IT workers are struggling to find work.
The UK Border Agency was also criticised for not making sure foreign national workers leave the UK when their visas expire. It is thought that more than 180,000 people have overstayed illegally.
Margaret Hodge said the Points Based System is better than the system it replaced but much can still be done to improve it. She explained that the Committee was concerned that there was no control over the number of people coming into the country on intra-company transfers.
She went on to say that the Border Agency has not found a way to ensure migrant workers leave the country when their visas expire and it cannot verify the numbers that have stayed on without permission. Furthermore, the Agency has not carried out proper checks on employers who are sponsoring work visas and has only visited 20% of those who applied for a licence. Basically the Agency does not the management information necessary to manage migrant numbers and enforce compliance of the rules.
MPs have called on the Agency to improve the way it manages information to find out which employers are breaking the rules and Damian Green, the immigration minister, said the report demonstrates the need for radical reform of the immigration system.
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