UK advertising of jobs to double before opening to non-EU applicants

Employers will have to advertise jobs to UK workers for at least a month before offering them overseas, the government has announced.

Home secretary Alan Johnson said yesterday that from next year the legal minimum period to post vacancies at Jobcentre Plus will double from two weeks, the BBC has reported.

Johnson added that this will mean that non-EU workers can no longer be used as a “cheaper alternative” to those from the UK.

He also announced that the minimum salary to allow someone from overseas to qualify as a skilled worker in the UK will increase from £17,000 to £20,000.

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The minimum qualification period for non-EU workers transferring to a company’s UK base is to increase from six months to a year, Johnson added.

The Home Office estimates that one in 10 of the non-EU workers given permits last year would be excluded under the new rules.