Foreign workers may have to use private health care if they want to work in the UK to ease the social pressure of immigration, the Home Secretary has indicated.
Under the proposals, employers that want to bring in migrants would have to provide them with private health insurance in order to avoid placing any “undue burden” on the NHS .
Theresa May said the planned annual cap on migrants will be based on the impact they have on public services and communities as well as economic need. The Coalition Government has undertaken to bring net migration down to the “tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands” and a limit of foreign workers from outside the EU is a key part of that move.
The worker cap will be introduced in April next year and the Government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will now consult, especially with businesses, on what that level should be.
Meanwhile, a temporary, smaller cap will come in to effect on July 19 to prevent a rush of applications before the permanent level is set.