Phylo
Senior member
- Messages
- 2,934
- Likes
- 329
UK needs a migration policy based on something like what the Australians have, scoring skills, aptitude age and wealth etc. Shouldn't be beyond the ability of our elite toffs to contrive something a little better than Rawanda.
The UK Points Based System: A Guide
The UK Points Based System: A Guide | DavidsonMorris
The United Kingdom's Points Based System (PBS) sets the framework for those looking to apply for a UK work, study or business visa. Introduced to coincide with Brexit, the Points Based System was designed to reshape immigration to the UK, aligning it more closely with the country's economic and...
www.davidsonmorris.com
The Australian points-based system: what is it and what would its impact be in the UK? - Migration Observatory
Boris Johnson has proposed an 'Australian style' points-based system for skilled migrant workers to the UK. This report explains what this might mean.
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk
Debates about the impacts of points systems have focused on one feature in particular: the ability to qualify without an employer sponsor. This has both advantages and disadvantages that are two sides of the same coin.
On one hand, workers entering under the Australian points system are less dependent on their employers and do not need permission to switch between jobs as they do in the UK; as a result, they are expected to have more bargaining power and to operate in a more competitive labour market.
The most common criticism of points systems is that they often do not require a job offer and if workers do not have employment lined up, it is difficult to know whether they are actually employable. The system relies on the government’s perception of what skills are valuable, rather than on the views of the employers who are to recruit them. Evaluation data from Canada suggested that highly educated migrant workers selected without a job offer during the 2000s were less likely to find skilled work after arrival compared to those selected by employers. As noted above, the government closed the UK’s previous ‘Australian-style’ points-based system in 2010-2011 because of concerns that the people it admitted were not finding skilled work.
Employment outcomes for points-tested migrants in Australia have been relatively good, however. According to data on cohorts of skilled migrants surveyed from 2014 to 2016, points-tested independent migrants coming directly from overseas had employment rates of over 90% 18 months after arrival, and higher median earnings that other skilled migrants, including even employer sponsored ones. (Counterintuitively, points-tested migrants switching from another visa in Australia do less well, perhaps due to differences in the composition of this group.)
However, points systems do not have to admit workers without job offers. It would be possible to require all applicants to have a job offer, or only give visas to people who have skilled work experience in the country (and thus demonstrated that they are employable in the UK).
The other implications of points systems have not received as much scrutiny. However, criticisms include the fact that eligibility criteria can be unpredictable if candidate are ranked against each other and a specific number admitted. This is because the bar for admission will be higher in periods when more other people are applying. (This was one of the outcomes of the UK’s mini-points test to prioritise oversubscribed Tier 2 (general) applications when the cap on this category was hit, described above.)
In summary, the impacts of introducing a new points system in the UK would depend crucially on how the system was designed, including questions such as what points were issued for, whether the route was be for temporary or permanent visas, and whether employer sponsorship would still be required.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Points System is Dead. Long Live the Points System!” Why Immigration Policymakers in the UK Are Never Quite Happy with Their Points Systems
Abstract
The UK’s ‘Australian-style’ points-based system (PBS), introduced in 2021, has been promoted by politicians as a strategy to ‘take back control’ of migration after leaving the European Union. However, the 2021 PBS is just the most recent of several initiatives since 2002 to introduce points into the UK’s labor migration policy. Points tests in various forms have been repeatedly introduced, modified, and removed in the UK’s immigration system. This paper examines what accounts for the enduring appeal and repeated reinvention of this policy tool. We argue that the main factor driving interest in points-based systems is not what they achieve in practice, but their symbolic value. Points systems have allowed policymakers to signal that labor migration policy is objective, rational, meritocratic and efficient. These objectives appear to outweigh the substantive policy benefits of points-based systems as mechanisms for accumulating human capital or offering flexibility in eligibility criteria.source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15562948.2022.2142719#abstract