The Governent’s response to the Migration Advisory Committee report and how it affects Tier 4 sponsors

In July 2015, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) was commissioned by the Governent to advise on a number of potential changes to Tier 2 to address concern about the rising number of migrants in that route and the reliance on them to fill shortages in the labour market.

MAC’s report was published in January 2016. On 30 March the Governent published its response to the MAC’s recommendations. There was welcome news for the education sector and international students which include:

• Tier 4 students switching to a Tier 2 visa will not be subject to a limit on numbers and their sponsor will not have to carry out a resident labour market test.
• A reduced immigration health surcharge will apply to those organisations with charitable status.
• The immigration health surcharge will not apply to Tier 4 students switching to Tier 2 and those applying for PhD level jobs.

For full details of the proposed changes please click here.