UK Government’s Announcement on Migration Limit

[James McLauchlan]

Recently posted in our news section.

Oil & Gas UK Cautiously Welcomes Government’s Announcement on Migration Limit as Broadly Positive

Oil & Gas UK has welcomed the announcement today (November 23) that skilled migrants entering the UK as intra company transfers will be excluded from the Government’s cap on migrants entering the UK to work.

Malcolm Webb, Oil & Gas UK’s chief executive, said: “We still await the full details of the new policy but we were pleased to hear that intra company transfers (ICTs) for skilled migrants will be excluded from the cap. This route is particularly important for the oil and gas sector as companies rely on the flexibility to bring their highly skilled people with specialist expertise, usually for a fixed period, to work in teams here in the UK and we applaud the Government for listening to concerns raised across the business community and recognising that these people have an important contribution to make to our industry and to the UK economy as a whole.”

Jessica Burton, Oil & Gas UK’s manager, special projects, said. “We are pleased to see that the Government seems to understand the importance of supporting those skilled migrants who can make the greatest contribution to the UK’s recovering economy. In this regard, the introduction of the ‘exceptional talent’ route into the UK, under Tier 1, is also good news as it will prioritise the migration of gifted and talented academics and scientists, who will benefit our knowledge economy and in turn our sector.

Ms Burton added: “While we welcome the fact that the Government has today demonstrated a prioritisation of Tier 2 migrants over those entering without a firm job offer under Tier 1, we urge the Government to exercise caution in their continued drive towards reducing migration levels. Any reduction target should not be met to the detriment of the UK’s competitiveness as a global centre of excellence for business and technology, and further cuts to the number of highly skilled migrants entering the UK would be very damaging.”

[James McLauchlan]

OGUK’s interest here would most likely only be in the area of people working onshore as far as I can judge.

I suspect that the new policy, recently announced by the UK government, would have no real bearing on foreign workers, skilled or not, that intend to work offshore (say a foreign ROV pilot working on a ship) outside the 12 mile limit, as they would not be deemed as working in the UK and therefore do not need a work permit, nor do they need to fulfil any ‘skilled worker’ requirement that UK immigration may lay down, as such.

It would be nice of someone could correct me on this, especially if anything has changed of late on that score.

[Scott Beveridge]

James,

In addition to your thoughts and query above… Would you / any other readers happen to know if the ("foreign") folks transiting through and/or between the 12 mi. limit and UK borders could be affected in any way re: tax, transit time limitations, or time offshore that any of this legislation could bring forth?

[Ray Shields]

Of course, most people coming to the Uk that people complain about are from the EU (Polish etc.) who will not be affected by any of these limits.

Im quite sure this will not apply to people transiting the UK to join ships etc.

[James McLauchlan]

But, in this forum in then past, I do seem to recall a number of posts about Filipino ROV types coming in also.

The adjusted Migration laws will likely not affect them either.

I believe the laws have been adjusted to protect, in some way, UK citizens from being undercut at land based job-sites in the UK, by foreign workers.

In the true sense of EU law (Which the UK has signed up to, so arguing the toss over that is not relevant) EU citizens are not deemed as foreign workers however, those from outside the EU definitely are… yet the new laws may not have any effect on offshore jobs being taken by foreign workers in the UK sector of the North Sea.

[Ifeanyi Enyia]

Why is it that everyone in the UK thinks outsiders will take their jobs from them, what about UK personnel working outside of the UK and all over the world, who takes the lose for such spaces, i think any body and every body should be allowed to transit to any vessel or work any where offshore, just like UK citizens are allowed to.

[James McLauchlan]

Why is it that everyone in the UK thinks outsiders will take their jobs from them, what about UK personnel working outside of the UK and all over the world, who takes the lose for such spaces, i think any body and every body should be allowed to transit to any vessel or work any where offshore, just like UK citizens are allowed to.

Nothing like resurrecting a (almost) three year old thread 🙂

A few opinions in a Forum does not comprise "Everyone in the UK"!

in addition… companies bringing in people from overseas and paying them a small percentage of the local going rate is indeed taking UK jobs away from those that would expect tp receive decent rates. Its called unfair competition.

Try working offshore in one of the most liberal countries I can think of… ‘Canada’ and you’ll find that the system gives priority to Canadians before foreigners and that employers should pay foreign workers the same rate as Canadians. In addtion foreigners need a work permit whether they are onshore of offshore Canada.

Many other countries require that offshore foreign workers must have a work permit before they can proceed offshore.

The UK is far more liberal in that regard as, offshore outside the 12 mile limit, there is no work permit requirement and no requiremnt to pay the going rate.

I would suggest very few people if any in the UK are concerned about fair competion as long as people they are working next to are doing so on a level playing field.

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