Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on reinstatement of the Tier 1 visa route.

Tier 1 of the Points Based System provides for the admission of high value migrants who are leaders in their field or who will make an economic contribution though investment and business formation. It currently comprises the Exceptional Talent, Investor, Entrepreneur and Graduate Entrepreneur categories.

The Tier 1 (General) category was closed in 2011 and the Tier 1 (Post Study Work) category was closed in 2012. Both categories were closed in order to ensure that Tier 1 is not used by those who intend to undertake lower skilled work. The department has received various representations on these categories both in support of the closures and calling for greater provisions, including recent reports produced by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration in February 2015 and the Post Study Working Group established by the Scottish Government in March 2015.