Proposed cap on UK immigration necessary: Green

Dubai: The coalition government's proposed cap on immigration is "necessary", Damian Green, Immigration Minister has said.

"While planned changes to the immigration system — which include an annual limit on workers from outside the European Union — may be "controversial", they are necessary," he said during an address to the Royal Commonwealth Society.

The Minister has released the first of a series of research reports, entitled "The Migrant Journey", identifying the behaviour of migrants entering the UK immigration system in the major non-visit visa routes and the common pathways through the immigration system that result in settlement in the UK.

"We absolutely need sustainable immigration levels. This will relieve pressure on public services, and stop immigration being such a delicate political issue.

"We must be confident enough to say Britain is open for business and study to those who will make this a better country, and a more open society," Green said.

The report identifies four main immigration routes that lead to settlement in the UK: the family route (husband, wife, civil partner, fiancé, proposed civil partner, or unmarried partner or same-sex partner); work (leading to citizenship: highly skilled, wish to find work, self-employed or who have job offer); EU and European Economic Area (third-country nationals having formed a relationship with an European Union national); and settlement (those granted settlement before entering the UK and other grants of leave that fall outside of the Immigration Rules).