Low-skilled EU migrants will only have visas for a year
EU MIGRANTS will have to earn at least £30,000 before they are allowed to come to Britain after Brexit, under a crackdown due to be announced next week, The Daily Telegraph understands.
Under the plans, which have prompted a Cabinet row, skilled migrants would be required to have a job offer and hit the minimum salary threshold before they were allowed to come to the UK on five-year-long visas.
Low-skilled migrants would be able to come to the UK on one-year visas on a “temporary” basis as long as they had jobs. Once their visas expired they would be required to leave and would be unable to apply to return until after a “cooling off ” period of a year.
Government sources said there had been “significant” disagreements over the plans, with Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, among ministers who had raised concerns.
However, Downing Street sources said the Prime Minister was determined to push ahead with the plans before Parliament rises next week, in an effort to shore up her authority. A Cabinet source said: “The Prime Minister has got nothing from Brussels and this is a good bit of red meat. She needs this but the Cabinet isn’t with her.”
The migration white paper has been delayed after a series of Cabinet disputes. Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the Commons, said this week that the Government “expects” it will be published before “the end of the year”, but two government sources said the rows could mean it is delayed until January.
A Treasury source said: “It is just wrong, plain and simple to suggest there is a row … it is in a good place.”
Ministers have raised concerns that extending the £30,000 salary threshold, which at present applies to non-eu migrants, to people from the EU would deter skilled workers. They are also concerned that barring low-skilled migrants from returning for a year would have a significant impact on industries that rely on seasonal workers.
The Government will also abolish the cap on highly skilled workers, such as doctors and nurses, to ensure the UK can attract the “brightest and best”.