Should the government increase or decrease the amount of temporary work visas given to high-skilled immigrant workers?

Increase but with protections to ensure wages are not decreased and at the same time increase funding for training citizens for high skill jobs.

Increase to allow highly skilled workers but more oversight on the uk companies employing to make sure they are treating immigrants fairly

Our economy could use any high skilled workers no matter where they are from. A visa should be open to anyone who is going to give back to the economy

Remove the points based system, provide education and training to existing workers and allow immigrants to arrive regardless of their skills.

I don't believe it needs to be increased or decreased, however, the government needs to provide more incentives for our own citizens to do these jobs, if this doesn't happen then we'll need to increase the amount of temporary work visas to fill these positions.

I am satisfied with the current amount, but I do think there needs to be more legislation to protect immigrant workers from lesser pay, poor working conditions and UK tax.

UK companies should have to employ indigneous first

Yes, but limit the amount while investing and incentivising the development of local skilled workers.

The ability to live in this country should not be tied to employment, these should not be work visas but simply visas

Increase although ensure they are treat well if they have high skilled they should not face discrimination when coming to work.

Increase, it is the only way for the country to prevent long term economic and population stagnation.

Decrease; companies are currently taking advantage of this scheme, and our citizens should be doing these jobs.

Increase, it's more important to have the best and brightest supporting our country and economy than to worry about their country of origin

Only for building infrastructure such as NHS, housing and things we are behind on. UK jobs should be prioritised where possible.

It doesn't matter how many temporary work visas are given out as long as they are not being taken advantage of and paid fairly

Monitor and increase in certain jobs where there are a lack of workers. Decrease in certain jobs where there are people capable of the jobs but can’t find work.

Increase, and streamline the process to become permanent citizen with worker's visa. Provide more permanent citizenships.

While our economy undoubtedly benefits from the contributions of skilled foreign workers, their presence can also impact job opportunities for native workers. For instance, unemployment rates among British-born citizens in certain regions, like the north, are significantly higher than among foreign nationals. Additionally, the availability of cheaper labor from abroad allows companies to lower wages or offer positions at lower pay, reducing job opportunities for native workers and exerting downward pressure on wages overall.

Rather than relying heavily on foreign labor, we should prioritize…  Read more **investing in the training and development of our own workforce** to meet labor market demands. By focusing on education and skills development, we can equip British workers to fill labor shortages, creating a more self-sufficient and sustainable economic model while protecting wages and job opportunities for native citizens.

I don't really think that it's a matter of increasing or decreasing the number as skilled immigrants who actually blend with the existing culture actually make the country generally better

Increase, but monitor these immigrant workers and make sure they're provided with social care and a decent pay rise. Our economy relies on these immigrant workers who help contribute to our economy.

I’m satisfied with the number of visas, but we should give more opportunities to British workers, young and old. Buy British, Hire British.

Increase but also improve incentives (wage, training, stability, career path advancement, etc.) for native workers.

Decrease them, which would allow citizens to get jobs which would overall limit immigration and increase employment within the country, make skilled workers out of your own citizens without exploiting people from other countries for the low wage.

Increase, but only if they are paid fairly and we should also provide more incentives for UK citizens to prepare for these jobs

Visas for skilled workers are incredibly important, that being said, they should not be relied on and incentives should be provided for citizens

Increase them but there should be more efforts to make sure it goes to the most skilled people, rather than selling COS to the highest bidder

Just allow eu citizens with university diploma to enter the country and provide them with the eu Settlement status as it is for the current ones

immigrant workers visas would be provided on the basis that the seekers have a prospective employer supporting the process.

They shouldn’t be temporary, you should only be able to come if you are going to work like in Australia

This needs to be flexible, and working mechanisms for assessing relevant needs and capacity improved.

A mixture of both, I think their should always be incentives to our citizens, however if high skilled immigrants are prepared to work then they should also be granted work visas

Immigration shouldn't be used by the government or companies as a means of avoiding training and developing people in this country.

I’m happy with the current amount BUT the government should provide more incentives to prepare our citizens for these jobs

Within reason they should be increased as long as we who already live here still have enough opportunity

Neither agree or disagree, but I think we need to review UK residents salaries before looking outside of the UK as some people on less than this and hardworking

We do not need more doctors from foreign countries. We need to improve things for people wanting to be doctors in this country. No one wants to be a doctor because it’s terrible pay for long hours.

we should make the people in this country claiming benefits and not working earn the benefits they get , We lack a work culture in this country Hence needing to bring in high skilled work force when this country cannot supply it own , this is obvious in the NHS pay the NHS what they are worth

Keep the same but they should be able to speak English well especially in jobs like doctors and social workers so people can understand.

The issue isn't legal migrants taking job vacancies, it is those who are here illegally/working illegally who are circumventing our laws. The companies and individuals should be held accountable.

Why we are hiring skilled resources from other countries when our unemployment rate is too high is baffling. We should invest in our people and train them. It should not be aceptable to refuse a job and claim benefits if you are able to do it.

The country needs illegal immigrants to help run the country but it should be better managed and vetted

It should be case by case and only if the skill set is not in the UK. Further education to get the right skills in the UK in the first place. Higher immigration for people who work for less money pushes down wages for everyone else

Increase, and where wages are below living wage, offer incentives or subsidies for employers to fill these gaps too many skilled workers can't come to the UK despite shortages because salaries don't match minimum threshold

Pay everyone a decent wage and it won't matter where they come from. The UK should be the gold standard by which other countries emulate. We also need to buy ethically but until there is equitable pay across the global chain of production then this will always create imbalance between what we get and what we can have. It should not be a struggle for the basics. Bit by bit affordability of the basics have become more and more a luxury.

Increase as it is shown our own nationals are happy to benefit from unemployment government funds rather than seek gainful employment

Increase with fewer hoops to jump through. Give the people doing the work a fair wage that a British citizen would get.

Increase high skill like doctors but still provide incentives for British born citizens to work those jobs also, free university education would help motivate more young people to aspire for high skilled jobs

Work out a sensible system that matches skill needs to people wanting to come without damaging the economies they come from.

Increase, the current rules of skilled worker visa does not make for low wages and these workers are necessary to build the economy

Only people who can financially support themselves and have a high level job offer , or who are seeking employment

Increase, however hold companies criminally liable if they take advantage of this system to decrease wages.

Government should do more to ensure the British population are highly skilled instead of criticising people who have worked hard to come here and reap the benefits of those jobs

I think more people with relevant qualifications/experiences should be given the option to migrate to this country permanently. We live in an aging society!

Yes they should increase these to allow skilled immigrants to work. It should be easier to extend to permanent work visas too

I would say I’m happy with the system as it is but clearly it needs to be flexible. If we need more skilled workers then we should be able to increase the number of temporary work visas as required.

Increase, but focus on higher quality of education to avoid needing to do this and lower immigration over time

increase where the individual an prove competence and the job role is in high demand without enough uk worker available

Dependant on the skills they can offer, if it's medical or scientifical yes if its anything else than no

The number should follow the needs of the UK economy. Wages and conditions should be more tightly controlled

Keep the same amount of temporary work visas but the government should provide more incentives for citizens to work

I think we should allow it for doctors and nhs workers as their is so many jobs that need filling - however we need to restart the benefits system and make sure that we are making our own citezens work in the uk - if we make sure that every uk born citizen is working after education, then it would solve this issue anyway

Where required applicants should be given the visas but only after passing strict control assessment

Increase, it should be easier to work in the UK, but companies should not be used to decrease wages for everyone else.

Increase, however a form of legislation needs to be implemented so they cannot pay they a penny to our pound

As above - we shouldn’t only be allowing skilled workers into the uk? We need unskilled labour as well

We should try to train up British workers first but we should allow high skilled workers to come to UK to work in those industries where there is a deficiency of British workers.

Increase but ensure projected recruitment requirements correlate with educational strategy to meet future needs

Depends on skill, Criminal record, fluency in the language and culture, or actually willing to learn

Although immirgrants may help, they have a bad look on this country and more will think it’s ok to come in and soon the uk will be too crowded

Migration is a lever to pull when beneficial to the country. More needs to be done to train our own population but migration needs to increase and decrease with demand in a carefully controlled manner.

I think they should encourage working immigrants... but remove or disencourage ones that aren't working. Anyone who is beneficial to the UK should be temp for a period and permanent afterwards

Our own citizens should have more incentive to earn these jobs. Where we recruit from overseas there should be more verification that these recruits are up to our own standards rather than recruiting people that are 'highly-skilled' at lower standards.

They should be increased but also there should be incentives for British citizens to learn the skills

There is not a black and white answer to this. We shouldn't be hiring people from other countries at a lower cost, and what counts as a skilled worker is very limited. Caring work requires highly skilled people but it is poorly paid.

It is sad to see that the country is not able to train high-skilled workers and that we are need to get them from another country.

Increase because we benefit from different types of experience and education. They should be paid the same as UK cutizens

It adapt according to the need at the time - but with a long term strategy to better meet our own needs using people born and trained in the UK

The current points-based system seems reasonable but I think there should also be regulations in place to ensure that companies are not exploiting the program at the expense of UK citizens, doing things like decreasing wages and hiring only foreigners to keep their costs down

There should be some some support (or more effective support than exists) to help any non-English speaking people communicate well in English, especially in healthcare settings (high skill or low skill)

Yes for roles where needed but monitored, reviewed and not with automatic‘forever’. And which a plan for filling the gap

Whatever the amount, there should be one salary for highly-skilled workers wherever they are from, so companies should not be able to benefit from hiring immigrant workers. They should be contributing and adding value to our workforce, not a way to save money from lower salaries.

We’d be better investing in our own people and training and educating them instead of having to ship people in.

Increase, but more emphasis on legislations on protecting immigrant workers from exploitation by UK companies.

It shouldn't be an increase or decrease question, It is a matter of whether we are missing that skill base or not. If we are temporarily the visas needed should be granted in the quantity required, but long term the uk should be self sufficient and provide an education system that provides the skill base needed.

Give citizens the opportunity to prepare for highly skilled roles if there is not enough people to take the opportunity then offer temporary visas for highly skilled immigrant workers.

I want less skilled immigrants to be allowed in, the backbone of society has been built in this. However it has allowed lower wages with i hate.

Increase, but ensure that companies are not continuing to take advantage of this program to decrease wages

We should increase incentives and opportunities for UK citizens to enter jobs first. But where a foreign skilled worker is the best choice, they should get the role. And be treated fairly.

Increase but encourage our own citizens to be able to fill these rolls to naturally reduce the amount of visas granted

We need more skilled workers especially to staff the NHS, but we should follow the example of Dubai and instead of allowing them to become permanent immigrants, these workers should be issued with work permits and have to return to their native countries when their job contracts finish unless the contract is renewed

Increase for longer term, but also encourage own citizen's to apply, and make businesses prove they have tried to hire someone suitable in this country first

The numbers granted should differ year on year depending on how successful the government has been in developing and engaging home grown talent.

Increase, with a longer term commitment to provide incentives for our own citizens to take these jobs

Increase, as long as the workers are employed in a role that utilises their skill-set. Many graduates are coming to the UK, doing a skilled degree and then working in care homes as they can't get a job utilising their degree/skill-set.

Keep them the same but close the loopholes where this is being abused. And prosecute company directors who use this to exploit people.

Increase, as we have a skills shortage and it’s preferable to have the skilled workers rather than disrupt our services/industries.

Neither, but reform the immigration system entirely so that visas go to the right people where jobs are needed and not to reduce cost

Increase IF the UK needs skilled worked we intend to PAY properly for jobs we need as a country - decrease if we have enough skills - help other parts of the world improve their own opportunities for their own people - also allow our citizens to go overseas if that is what will make them happy

Increase and prevent businesses from offering lower wages to immigrant workers compared to British nationals.