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A group pushing for greater curbs on Britain’s immigration regime has accused IT MNCs “typically based in India” of exploiting a “gaping” loophole in the UK’s immigration system, and called for its overhaul.
In a report published on Wednesday, Migration Watch said that a small number of multinational IT companies were exploiting a system intended to post senior executives to the UK to bring “thousands of migrant workers to fulfil contracts with private and public sector organisations.”
“This is known as third-party contracting and usually involves an international IT company, typically based in India, obtaining a contract to deliver a project or support services to a UK entity and then staffing it with workers from the company’s home country,” Migration Watch said.
Though part of the Tier-2 visa category, intra-company transfers (ICTs) are not subject to a cap, and have over time represented an increasing share of the Tier-2 work visas, the lobby group said. In 2017, 58,000 of the 94,000 Tier-2 work permits were via the ICT route, the group said. It accused the companies of undercutting British competitors and “reducing” opportunities for British IT professionals to work and develop skills.
Intra-company transfers
Britain’s immigration regime has become an increasingly contentious area: while those on the right have pressed for tougher restrictions, industry and others have expressed concerns that even the existing system could threaten Britain’s ability to remain open to business and talent at a time when it is particularly important for the country.
Last week, the Confederation of British Industry published a report urging the government to scrap immigration targets, to help encourage investment and foster better trade relations. “Intra-company transfers hugely benefit the UK boosting investment by international companies and creating jobs in the UK,” said Matthew Percival, the Confederation head of employment.
Trade body TechUK rejected the suggestion that international talent was cutting UK domestic skills. “Last year there were more unfilled vacancies in IT than any other sector,” said Antony Walker, Deputy CEO of TechUK.
“The UK is a world leader in tech because it is open and attractive to the best international talent. While it is right that the industry continues to build our domestic skills pipeline, maintaining routes that allow businesses to get the workers they need, where and when they need them, is critical to the tech sector and to our economy.”
The government has given no indication that it would push for a tightening of the ICT regime. On Wednesday, it pointed to changes brought in in 2017 that included increasing the minimum salary requirement, and ensuring workers left the UK after five years unless they earn more than £120,000, which it said were made to ensure that workers domestic workers would not be undercut.
“The Tier-2 (intra-company transfers) is a temporary visa route which supports inward investment to the UK,” said a Home Office spokesperson.
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