Curry chefs may be hot favourites for work visas

Published on Thursday 27 March 2008 21:04

BANGLADESHI chefs may be given priority for UK working visas under new immigration rules.

A "shortage occupation list" is being drawn up by a taskforce appointed by the Home Office to identify jobs that cannot be filled by people from the European Union.

The team of economists is investigating whether care workers, chefs for Indian restaurants and hospital technicians, among other roles, are really needed rather than training up UK or EU nationals.

Professor David Metcalf, chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, said his team would create a UK and Scottish list of occupations by June to be given special dispensation to work here.

He said: "Essentially, Scotland gets a second bite of the cherry and that reflects both the slightly different demographics but also the different composition of industry."

Earlier this year, 100 restaurateurs protested at the Scottish Parliament claiming that nearly half of Scotland's Indian restaurants could close because of a shortage of caterers.

Under the new points-based migration system due to come into force in the UK in late autumn, people seeking work visas could be given additional points if they have skills Britain needs.

Prof Metcalf, a labour economist at the London School of Economics, said: "If my committee says there is a shortage of skilled labour in a particular occupation, it's going to be much easier for the employer to get the people in.

"It's going to be more difficult to get people in if they are not in the shortage list."

His team is examining whether EU citizens could be trained to fill skills shortages. He added: "It may be sensible in the short run to fill it by immigration, but that may give no incentive for the employers or the state to upskill our own people."

Yesterday, the team visited Golden Jubilee hospital, to investigate a shortage of technicians, and Southern Cross Healthcare group, both in Glasgow, to find out about skilled carers.

The team also met Sanjay Majhun of Harlequin Leisure, which runs a chain of Indian restaurants. Prof Metcalf said: "Is it really the case that the Poles, who we all know work very hard, can't really work in a Bangladeshi restaurant? Well maybe they can't – maybe you truly need the experience. We want to really push people to give us hard evidence."

Iain Ferguson, CBI Scotland policy executive said the construction, hospitality and care work industries all struggle to attract skilled workers.

Howard McKenzie, the chief executive of the Association of Scotland's Colleges, said schools, colleges and universities should be able to meet the needs of the job market in the long term.