In March this year the Home Office published a paper on changes to the UK immigration system entitled Controlling Our Borders: Making Migration Work For Britain, Five Year Strategy For Asylum And Immigration. It advised that the new system will be designed in consultation with interested parties during the next couple of years and will be gradually phased in. No dates have been set for this phased implementation; it is likely to be towards the end of 2007. The new system will rely on a new, integrated IT system and, given the Government’s record with IT systems, there is a reluctance to announce an implementation date before it is in place. The changes will radically impact the way UK companies employ migrants. The new scheme will change the nature of the migrant workforce as the Government seeks to target young people with entrepreneurial skills and phase out schemes for low-skilled migrants to be replaced by eastern Europeans.

Immigration has always been a hot political topic. Prior to the last election, opinion polls showed immigration concerned potential voters more than the Iraq war. During the frenzied pre-election period the Government decided a new immigration strategy was necessary. The aim was to simplify the current complicated system, reducing the 50-odd ways to enter the UK into five basic tiers. It also aimed to make the system transparent and objective and to streamline the decision-making process.