Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has received representations on doctors from overseas being prevented from working in the NHS on account of immigration rules relating to their salaries; and if she will make a statement.

We have received representations concerning the recruitment of overseas doctors under Tier 2 (General), our main immigration work route for non-EEA workers. The minimum salary thresholds were set following consultation with the independent Migration Advisory Committee and are based on pay scales published by the NHS – and have not been recently changed.

When we receive more applications than the number of places available in any given month, priority is given – through the award of points– first to occupations in UK shortage as identified by the independent Migration Advisory Committee, then to PhD-level occupations, and followed by economically valuable jobs paying higher salaries.