re-branding Tier 2 (the skilled worker route) as temporary, ending the assumption that settlement will be available for those who enter on this route;
allowing certain categories of Tier 2 migrant, for example those earning over £150,000 or occupations of a specific economic or social value to the UK, to retain an automatic route to settlement;
creating a new category into which, after three years in the UK, the most exceptional Tier 2 migrants may switch and go on to apply for settlement;
allowing Tier 2 migrants who do not switch into a settlement route to stay for a maximum of five years with the expectation that they and any dependants will leave at the end of that time;
introducing an English language requirement for adult dependants of Tier 2 migrants applying to switch into a route to settlement;
restricting the maximum period of leave for Tier 5 Temporary Workers to 12 months; and
closing or reforming routes for overseas domestic workers.
The consultation will run for three months, until 9 September and we will announce our firm
plans in due course. As the Home Secretary announced in February, we intend the
settlement reforms will affect those workers who entered economic migration routes under
the Immigration Rules in force from 6 April this year and who, under the current system,
could have expected to apply for settlement in 2016. The timing of reforms to Tier 5 and
the overseas domestic worker routes will depend on the outcome of consultation, but we
would anticipate them taking effect during 2012.
