Immigration crackdown will create a ‘perfect storm’ for Scotland

Tourism and women will suffer the most under points-based system, warn experts

SCOTLAND will be hit by a “perfect storm” of problems that will cripple tourism and discriminate against women under the Government’s new points-based immigration system, experts have warned.

According to industry bodies and academics, the latest immigration plans to restrict entry to the UK for those who earn less than £25,600 and to others who are classed as unskilled will devastate parts of the country already facing a population crisis.

Tourism, care, farming and fishing bosses have also hit out at the proposals and called for urgent talks with UK ministers about the plans, which are due to come into effect from January next year.

The Scottish Government has claimed that the policy will impact Scotland more than elsewhere in the UK due to the reliance on migrant populations to increase Scotland’s overall population, due to the death rate exceeding the birth rate in native Scots.

Professor Rebecca Kay of the University of Glasgow’s School of Social and Political Sciences agreed with the claims, and said Scotland was in a unique situation.

She explained: “It raises challenges around Scotland’s particular needs around demographic and workforce, both of those come together.

“The areas of Scotland which most need people are most likely to be the areas which don’t have jobs which meet the salary threshold, so there will be an almost perfect storm in rural areas – jobs in sectors which are being defined as low skilled, generally having depressed salary rates, and in areas which desperately need people to come, not just to work but to settle and have families.

“In that sense, [the policy] is doing all of the things that Scotland was most worried about.”

The academic also said there are certain industries which cannot replace migrant workers with local employees as easily as government ministers have suggested.

She said: “The salary level is going to rule out a huge number of jobs in care, agriculture and hospitality for example. Female migrants, like female members of the general population, tend to earn less. The jobs that women tend to be employed in are also those which are more likely not to go above the salary threshold.

“It is very clear that employers are worried, as they do not have a renewable workforce if the people they have got decide to go elsewhere.

“They can only replace them with the local population, which might be possible but there is a lot of evidence to suggest it won’t be easy. In some areas the balance between the working and non-working age population can’t be changed except by migration as there are not enough people.

“There are some places that, without migration, have no solution to this problem. While migration is not the absolute answer, without it they are totally stuck.”

Donald Macaskill, chief executive of

THE UK Government has proposed introducing a points-based immigration system which would take language and skills into account. l The Government says that in order to be granted a visa, those applying from anywhere in the world must have a job offer from an “approved employer” which is at an “appropriate skill level”.

This will give the new applicant 40 points towards their visa. l Those being given a work permit must also speak English to a certain standard in order to be handed 10 points towards their work permit. l By meeting those three requirements, applications will have 50 points – but will need a total of 70 in order to be given a visa. l Applicants will be able to gain extra points if they have highly sought-after qualifications such as in science or a PHD. l The Home Office said it hopes to add more categories that can earn applicants points for the system at some time in the future, which could include age or experience. l The UK Government proposes to lower the salary threshold for skilled migrants from £30,000 to £25,600, so long as they have been offered a job.

Applicants who don’t meet the threshold but earn at least £20,480, could be granted a visa if they have been offered a role on the UK Government’s job shortage list. l The proposals also include lowering what it classes as “skilled” from being a graduate to having an A-level or Highers qualified job.

The plans indicate that there will be no visa option for low-skilled workers from either EU or non-eu countries.

Estimates suggest that more than two-thirds of the existing EU workforce do not meet the proposed skilled worker rules. l Applicants who are entering the UK to work for the NHS are set to be given preferential treatment and there is set to be no cap on numbers entering through the NHS route to obtaining a work visa.