Application bonus for immigrants settling in Scotland

Published on Sunday 26 July 2009 22:15

IMMIGRANTS who want to move to Britain will have more of a chance of passing Home Office hurdles if they agree to live in under-populated Scotland, it has emerged.

Foreigners agreeing to settle north of the Border will gain bonus points under the points-based system.

While the economic recession has made it tougher for migrants to settle in Britain, Scotland – with its falling population and skills shortage – could become the exception. Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy has confirmed migrants bound for Scotland could be treated more favourably.

Mr Murphy said yesterday that "having lived and worked in Scotland is proposed as one way to earn points. Our need for a growing population is ranked along with the need to recruit to shortage occupations."

Migrants already living in the UK could flock to Scotland to increase their chances of being allowed to live in the UK more permanently.

The changes are outlined in a draft Home Office paper. It states: "Attributes for which points could be awarded might include earning potential, special artistic, scientific or literary merit, qualifications, shortage occupation; and having lived and worked in a part of the UK in need of increased population, eg Scotland."

The SNP home affairs spokesman, Pete Wishart, said: "Scotland's population projection, although improving from years of stagnation, requires real action taken in Scotland and not merely this scheme, which is a move in the right direction but doesn't go far enough."

However, Damian Green, the shadow minister for immigration, derided the plan as "completely absurd", adding: "Unless the government proposes to build a new Hadrian's Wall, it has no control over the movement of people across the border."