Employers could face a crackdown on bringing foreign workers to the UK using intra-company transfer visas, after MPs criticised the UK Border Agency for its current “lack of control” over the system.
The Commons Public Accounts Committee said that checks to the scheme were “much more limited” than in other parts of the immigration system, with the UKBA visiting fewer than one in five employers to check their compliance.
The Agency also lacked “the basic information needed to take a robust risk-based approach to visiting sponsoring employers”, MPs warned. The intra-company transfer route provides multinational companies with a means of enabling staff based outside of the European Economic Area who earn at least £24,000 to work in their UK business.
The scheme is particularly heavily used by IT firms because it is not covered by the coalition government’s immigration cap, but is hitting skilled UK IT workers who are unable to find work, the PAC said.
A key problem was the difficulty in verifying what each worker’s salary was as many employers paid them housing and living allowances, amounting in some cases to 40% of their salary. Exploiting this loophole meant that companies were able to bring cheaper workers in from abroad at the expense of the UK workforce, however, the Committee said.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge, its chairman, said: “The fundamental point is that the agency lacks the management information needed to manage migrant numbers and ensure that the rules are complied with.”
Another problem was that the UKBA, hampered by a lack of exit controls, had failed to monitor migrants’ right to remain in the UK and to ensure that workers left when they were supposed to.
Estimates showed that 181,000 who should have gone may still be in the country, but the Committee said that the Agency did “not have the right information to know if this is an accurate estimate”.
Responding to the criticism, Immigration Minster Damian Green said: “This report demonstrates why the immigration system needs radical reform.” He wanted enforcement and compliance to be the “cornerstone” of the system and warned that “any employers found to be abusing our immigration system risk losing their license to sponsor any migrant workers”.
