Today’s Home Office related coverage includes security and migration at Calais and Tier 2 (General) visas in the health profession.
Calais
There is widespread coverage of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Calais yesterday (Tuesday 16 January), including on Sky News, BBC News, Express, Mail and Guardian.
Media coverage focuses on President Macron’s speech where he said he would be speaking to the UK about the issues of security and immigration at the French port. This is ahead of meetings between President Macron and the Prime Minister as well as French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb and the Home Secretary on Thursday.
A Home Office comment ahead of the meeting can be found below while a factsheet about the juxtaposed controls is available on the Home Office Media Blog.
A Home Office spokesperson said:
We want to do all we can to make the border between the UK and France as secure as possible and this will be one part of the discussion when the Home Secretary meets the French Interior Minister on Thursday.
We have already invested in security fencing, CCTV and detection technology but this is an ongoing process and, just as we invest in our borders around the rest of the UK, we constantly monitor whether there is more we can be doing at the UK border controls in France and Belgium.
It is also vital that we continue our cooperation with France to minimise the impact of migration at the shared border, take action against criminal gangs and traffickers and reduce the factors which draw people towards it.
Tier 2 (General) visas
The i reports that recruitment specialists and medical professionals have concerns that the Tier 2 (General) visa cap is preventing doctors from taking up jobs in the NHS. According to the piece, dozens of medical personnel are being stopped from coming to the UK because their Certificate of Sponsorship applications are being rejected.
A Home Office response can be found below.
A Home Office spokesperson said:
When demand exceeds the month’s allocation of Tier 2 (General) visas, priority is given to applicants filling a shortage or PhD-level occupations.
The published shortage lists include a range of medical professionals, including consultants specialising in clinical radiology and emergency medicine, and we estimate that around a third of all Tier 2 places go to the NHS.
We are committed to ensuring that net migration is reduced to sustainable levels and that the jobs of British workers are protected.