High Skills

A High Court ruling that government changes to the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) were unlawful means thousands of migrants who faced deportation will be allowed to stay. In R (on the application of HSMP Forum) v Secretary of State for the Home Office, Sir George Newman upheld a legal challenge that the retrospective rule changes were unfair and discriminatory. In 2002, thousands of highly skilled foreign workers were encouraged to come to the UK with their families under the HSMP. This allowed those with exceptional skills to stay in the UK long-term, without a prior job offer. However the Home Office suspended the scheme in November 2006, claiming some migrants were working in low skill jobs.