By IRNA
London : Retrospective changes to Britain’s Highly Skilled Migration Programme (HSMP) will mean tens of thousands of non-EU migrants will have to leave the UK, it was claimed Wednesday.
Challenging the changes made in 2006, the HSMP Forum said that 90 percent of professionals who have entered the UK no longer qualify, an equivalent to 44,000.
Between 2002 and the end of 2006, when the government changed the rules, 49,000 doctors, engineers, accountants and other professionals entered the UK under the HSMP.
They were assessed on qualifications, experience and earning ability, but change in the rules meant anyone applying to extend their work visa would have to score points based on their education, salary and age.
The Forum, seeking a judicial review at London’s High Court said thousands have already left the UK after their visas expired, and more than a thousand others have had their applications to stay rejected.
The retrospective changes had affected the lives of thousands of non-EU nationals, who left well-paid jobs, perks and families to make the UK home, it said.
“It is ironic that a government which boasts itself as champions of human rights around the globe is actually playing with the lives of thousands of skilled immigrants and their families,” Forum member Chandrasekar Elangovan was quoted saying by the BBC.
Last year, parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights said the retrospective changes to the new points-based system, which was introduced last month, were harsh, unfair, and incompatible with the Human Rights Act.