By IRNA
London : The first stage of a new points-based system for migrants from outside the European Union was launched in Britain Friday.
The scheme will initially apply only to highly skilled workers already in the country who want to extend their stay.
By the end of 2008,, every graduate with good English, on the equivalent of Pnds 40,000 (Dlrs 80,000), can potentially seek work in the UK.
Skilled workers in shortage occupations will also be able to enter with a job offer.
But low skilled workers from outside the EU will be barred from entering for the foreseeable future, as the UK believes all manual work vacancies can be filled from within the EU.
Migrants from 25 of the 27 EU countries, currently excluding new members Romania and Bulgaria, face no restrictions on working in the UK under the union’s free movement policy.
The government described the switch to an Australian-style points system is the biggest change in UK immigration policy “in a generation.”
Immigration minister Liam Byrne said the changes offer enough flexibility to respond to changing economic conditions.
“If and when we need to raise the points score that a migrant needs to come to Britain we can do that and do it instantly,” he said.
Byrne rejected opposition calls for an annual cap on immigration, warning it could create “chronic skills crises”.
The new system will ease pressure on services and community tensions in parts of the UK experiencing high levels of immigration, he told the BBC.
But the Conservatives said the changes are “over-hyped” and will not make a significant difference to the numbers entering the country, who have mainly arrived from Eastern European countries not covered by the points-based system.
Their shadow immigration minister Damian Green warned that immigration had caused “real strains in some areas on housing, on police, on hospitals and on school places” and said the new system makes no attempt to address these.