'Tough' New Points System to Make It Easier for Foreigners to Stay as Non-Skilled Workers

The Boris Johnson administration’s supposedly tough new “points-based immigration system” will make it even easier for foreign students to stay in England as unskilled workers, Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced.

“International students make an invaluable social, cultural, and economic contribution to UK campuses and the wider society. During the pandemic, students have continued to choose our world-leading colleges and universities, knowing it will bring them lifelong benefits, even as competitors in the global market closed their borders to students from overseas,” Patel wrote in an article for The Telegraph, appearing to boast about the relatively lax approach to border control which the Tories have adopted throughout the coronavirus situation. 

“We want the brightest and best to be able to stay and carry on contributing to our society. That is why I am delighted to launch the Graduate Immigration route,” the Home Secretary added.

“This will allow international graduates who have come, and succeeded, at one of our universities to continue their journey after study, giving them the chance to find work.

“They will be able to remain in the UK for at least two years to work once they have successfully completed their studies,” she explained.

The catch, however, is that foreign graduates will not be required to secure graduate jobs during this period, and will be allowed to take up the sort of non-skilled positions which many working-class English will be scrabbling for amid the heavy job losses the pandemic and associated lockdowns have triggered in sectors such as hospitality.

A government press release announcing the scheme notes: “The Graduate route will be unsponsored, meaning applicants will not need a job offer to apply for the route. There will be no minimum salary requirements nor caps on numbers.”

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