Immigration tightened as British graduates get priority

Graduates from Australia who are planning to work in Britain are not in a comfortable position as the government is planning to tighten immigration controls in order to help graduates from British university find work.

The Labor cabinet is set to consider a proposal that would make sure that there are lesser numbers of skilled entrants from non-European countries. According to government sources, this can reduce the number of newly trained Australian teachers, lawyers, physiotherapists and financial services graduates who can enter Britain.

Also, graduates who are willing to move to and work in Britain may also need to have a guaranteed job before they can be granted entry into Britain. However, doctors and nurses from Australia- professions where demand is greater than supply- are expected to remain untouched. In some ways, the proposal is a reaction to the record to the record 400,000 graduates who are expected to leave the universities in Britain in June. Therefore, the government is just hoping to protect jobs for graduates from Britain and make sure that jobs are available for them.

A briefing note which was prepared by the Home Office stated that during these hard economic times when large numbers of people are loosing jobs, it is extremely important that British workers and people who are already here have plenty of jobs.

The briefing note also stated that the government has already placed an Australian-style points based system that serves a flexible tool for controlling migration in the interests of Britain.

Under the newly introduced five-tier points based system, which immigration minister Phil Woolas wants to make even more strict, highly skilled immigrant workers from outside the EU, such as scientists, lawyers and doctors, can get entry to Britain in order to look for work and stay for a period of two years initially.

According to reports, Mr. Woolas has told a national newspaper last week that the priority of the government is to provide the highest possible levels of employment to British graduates.

When asked about the impact the tightening of the system would have on Australian immigration and skilled workers looking for work, the spokesman said that the previous holiday-makers scheme had already been shifted to tier five of the PBS: Temporary Workers and Youth Mobility.

It can be said that the government is so worried regarding the view of large numbers of British graduates being unemployed that it will consider of tightening this category on a temporary basis. It should be noted that doctors and nurses are categorized as tier one or tier two based on their profession and is highly unlikely that they would be affected as there is still huge shortage.