'Brightest And Best' Immigrants Wanted For UK

Only migrants capable of earning at least £31,000 annually will be allowed to settle in the UK, under plans announced by the immigration minister.

Outlining how the Government plans to be more selective in its immigration policies, Damian Green said the country does not need more middle managers or unskilled labour.

It is time to move away from the debate over numbers and ask "how we can benefit from immigration?", he said.

Ministers have pledged to cut net migration from the current 242,000 to the "tens of thousands" last seen in the 1990s, with crackdowns on forced and sham marriages, bogus students and an annual cap on immigrants coming from outside the EU.

Under the proposals:

:: Anyone seeking to settle permanently in the UK must be able to earn between £31,000 and £49,000.

:: The visa system will be improved for short-term business visitors and world-class entertainers.

:: A more formal test will be introduced to establish whether marriages are the result of genuine relationships.

:: Husbands, wives or fiances who cannot speak English will be barred from settling in the country.

Speaking at the Policy Exchange in central London, Mr Green said bringing in any migrants who would be economically dependent on the state or who can "play no role in the life of this country" is unacceptable.

Instead "everyone who comes here must be selected to make a positive contribution", he said.

New specialist routes will be developed further to improve the visa system for short-term business visitors and entertainers, encouraging world-class performers to come to Britain.

While the inflow of students will be restricted, the Government will also focus on ensuring they leave at the end of their visas, "reinforcing the notion that study is for a limited period", he said.

Families wanting to settle in the UK will also face tougher requirements and the link between "coming to work and staying on permanently" will be broken.

Mr Green told Sky News: "What I'm saying is that as well as reducing the numbers of people who come here, we need is to be better at selecting the right people to come here, so we have fewer and better people.

"We want people who can benefit Britain, not just benefit from Britain, people who can make a contribution to our economy and to our wider society.

"We will set criteria for all of the main immigration routes, so people by and large come here to work or as students or as part of a family migration.

"For each of those we'll be setting either skills levels or earnings levels, or, in the case of people coming here to get married, to say that they should actually be able to speak English so they can integrate into society.

"We need to know not just that the right numbers of people are coming here, but that the right people are coming here."

Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant said he was worried about the Government's plans.

"Despite the Prime Minister's continued assurance of 'no ifs, no buts', in his words, the amount of net migration will be cut to tens of thousands by the next general election, so far we've seen no policies that are actually going to implement that," he said.

"At the same time they have been cutting the checks on our borders at Heathrow last year, stopping the finger-printing of people at Calais, cutting the number of people stopped at our borders and sent away.

"If you're not dealing with illegal immigration into this country, what you say about legal migration is neither here nor there."