50, 000 EXTRA non-EU workers and their families will be let into the UK each year, but... 80, 000 FEWER from EU countries

TENS of thousands more migrants from outside the EU will be able to come to Britain in the biggest immigration shake-up for decades.

The home office admitted that an extra 50,000 workers and their families could arrive in the UK each year from the rest of the world.

They will be joined by a further 25,000 students, making a total of 75,000.

But up to 400,000 fewer EU citizens will make their homes here by the end of 2025 – or around 80,000 a year – according to official figures. That indicates that net migration, those arriving minus those leaving, will be broadly unchanged.

The Immigration and Social Security Coordination Bill, brought back to the Commons yesterday, will introduce an Australian-style points system from next year.

‘The brightest and the best’

It intends to honour the referendum result by ending free movement, a key reason the country voted for Brexit four years ago.

Documents published alongside the Bill showed that an extra 30,000 skilled migrants from outside the EU are forecast to arrive every year to work in jobs such as nursing and teaching, along with 20,000 family members and 25,000 students. Under the proposals, everyone coming to Britain to work or study will require a visa after EU freedom of movement rules finally end. EU citizens will no longer have preferential access.

Migrants will need at least 70 points to work in Britain, with points awarded for speaking english, whether the job earns a salary above £25,600 and if it is at a certain skill level. A fasttrack visa allowing doctors, nurses and health professionals from overseas to work in the NHS was introduced in March.

The minimum salary is flexible – applicants could earn less if they are filling a job where there are shortages. But there will be no general visas for the low-skilled.

Critics warned that the measures betray the hopes of those who want a dramatic curb on migration and risk harming the prospects of UK jobseekers as unemployment rises in the wake of coronavirus.

however, some businesses – including the construction and hospitality sectors and farmers – fear the Bill will make it tougher to recruit foreign workers to help fire the economy.

home Secretary Priti Patel said while the UK would control the number of foreigners arriving, the country wanted to attract the ‘brightest and the best’.

But Migrationwatch UK chairman Alp Mehmet said: ‘The Government seem to be sticking to immigration proposals that have been overtaken by the Covid-19 crisis. The proposed system may well drive an increase in immigration.’