Impact assessment

Changes affecting Tier 2 of the points-based system

Information on changes to Tier 2, the route for non-EEA workers with an offer of a skilled job in the UK. Changes…

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Documents

Statement of intent Tier 2 (PDF file - 119kb)

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Impact assessment - Tier 2 (PDF file - 622kb)

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Details

The documents below provide information on changes to Tier 2, the route for non-EEA workers with an offer of a skilled job in the UK.

Changes to the Immigration Rules were laid before Parliament on 4 April 2012 and come into force on 6 April 2012 and 14 June 2012.  The statement of changes regarding the rules is available on the UK Border Agency website. An impact assessment is available to download below.

These changes follow a report by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which was published on 28 February 2012.

A note about the financial impact assessment

The financial impact assessments were prepared according to the approach previously adopted for cost-benefit analysis. However, the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published a report on 10 January which concluded that there are a number of shortcomings in the impact assessment methodology.

In particular, the MAC felt that the impact assessment process gives undue prominence to the net present value (NPV) calculation but that the unreliability of NPV estimates in this policy area means that this figure does not adequately reflect the costs and benefits and that qualitative evidence should be given more weight. 

The government is considering the implications of the MAC’s recommendations and how best to reflect them in future impact assessments. In the meantime, readers should note the caveats to the current methodology that are presented in the MAC’s report.

Further information

These changes build on the other recently announced changes to:

Together these changes contribute to the government’s strategy for reducing net migration to sustainable levels, while continuing to attract the brightest and best and meet business needs.

Published 4 April 2012