APSCo has said that the government’s cap on non-EU workers is not likely to have any significant effect on the amount of IT contractors coming to the UK from foreign countries.
The cap excludes intra-company transfers which allow companies to transfer employees to Britain from their overseas offices.
Currently over 80% of non-EU IT employees come to this country on intra-company transfers so the new government cap appears to be an empty gesture. The chief executive of APSCo, Ann Swain, says it would be better to tighten up the rules regarding intra-company transfers rather than imposing an outright cap.
She would like to see the Government applying the ‘resident labour market’ test before allowing intra-company transfers to proceed. Employers would then have to prove that their requirements cannot be satisfied by the UK jobs market. They would need to advertise the vacancy in the UK and demonstrate that nobody has the requisite skill set before they are eligible for intra-company transfer visas.
India is the largest user of the intra-company transfer rule. In 2008, 10,255 Indian IT workers were ‘transferred’ to the UK from just 3 companies. In 2009, a total of 30,000 people took advantage of the ICT system, down 16,000 on the 2008 figure.
Umbrella companies, unions and professional bodies say that companies manipulate ICTs to bring cheap labour into the country and force British employees out of work.
There have been numerous complaints from British workers who have seen this manipulation in action. One IT contractor at a UK bank claimed that Indians were given jobs that would have been perfect for a newly qualified computing graduate.
Last week the Home Office published a list of around 20,000 employers who are registered to bring workers into the UK on “Tier 2” visas. Of theses, 4,700 are allowed to use ICTs.
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, recently announced that 24,400 work visas will be issued to non-EU immigrants for the remainder of this financial year
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