The Migration Advisory Committee is a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

associated with the British

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

. It was established in 2007. , the chair is Brian Bell, professor of economics at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. Alan Manning was a previous chair. Professor Sir David Metcalf CBE was the chair from 2007 to 2016. It offers independent advice to the government on immigration policy, and particularly on the Shortage Occupation List. When occupations are placed on this list, UK employers have fewer restrictions for recruiting candidates directly from overseas; specifically from outside the EU. They would no longer need to complete a residency test, which involves demonstrating that a search for suitable candidates within the UK in the first instance has been unsuccessful. They recommended that employers hiring skilled workers from outside the European Union should have to pay £1,000 surcharge per head in January 2016 as an incentive to train more British staff. The Committee produced a report in 2016 in which they heavily criticised the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...

, Health Education England and NHS trusts for not recognising obvious warning signs over a number of years, and "reluctantly" agreed to keep nursing on the list of shortage occupations. It produced a report on seasonal labour in horticulture after the abolition of the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme. The changes to the immigration rules in 2012, which affect the settlement of non-European economic area workers with tier II visas earning less than £35,000 were based on the recommendations of the committee.

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/migration-advisory-committee Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Migration-related organisations based in the United Kingdom