Investor News

27 October 2010

Japanese carmakers warn Minister that UK Visa cap undermines business

Some of Japan’s largest car manufacturers have warned the UK Government that the UK Visa cap on the number of skilled workers they can employ would undermine abilities to do business.

Honda, Nissan and Toyota collectively employ more than 10,000 people in Britain and the ability to transfer highly skilled workers to the UK on a temporary basis is beneficial not only to their companies but also to the British economy because of the knowledge and skills transfer it facilitates. Particularly, the restriction on intra-company transfers could hinder these companies’ abilities to introduce hybrid vehicle technologies to the British market.

The new UK Visa limited quotas could prove to be counterproductive to private sector-led economic recovery, many business leaders have said.
 
News of the meeting came only a few days after David Cameron told the CBI’s annual conference that he did not want the new immigration regime to hinder British business, which many have seen is a signle that the government may be prepared to tweak the strict UK Visa cap for non-EU workers.
 
In July the Government introduced an interim UK Visa cap ahead of a permanent cap that will be introduced in April next year.

The interim limits apply to all new applicants under Tier 1 (General), except for extension applications and in-country applications.  Applications under Tier 2 (General) are limited by the number of Employer Sponsorship Licences that are issued.  


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