Immigration and its contribution to the UK
Immigration is important to the UK. It supports the Government’s economic growth and productivity objectives by helping to fill gaps in the UK labour market (in particular within the health and education sectors). It also increases investment, innovation and entrepreneurship in the UK, not to mention the cultural enhancement that comes from having people with diverse backgrounds working and living in the UK 
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The current UK immigration system has been built up over time and thus has become cumbersome, complex and difficult to administer. Consequently, plans are well underway for significant changes to be made to the way the UK manges its migration programme.
The future of the UK’s managed migration system is about targeting the migrants who will most contribute to economic growth and output. In doing so, the government want to ensure that the UK can remain competitive in the global marketplace and be one of the most attractive locations for highly skilled and skilled migrants to come to work and live.
Current UK Immigration Rules
Currently the UK's Immigration Rules consist of more than 80 different routes by which a non-EEA national (also known as ‘overseas nationals’ or ‘foreign nationals’) can come to the UK to work , study or undergo training . The current application process requires the involvement of a variety of people including Entry Clearance Officers abroad, Immigration Officers at UK ports and Home Office caseworkers in the UK. Each of these people are required to assess each application and each applicant’s intentions subjectively, however this makes the current system very difficult to administer and one that often leads to inconsistencies, delays and incorrect decisions being made.
The vast number of routes available, coupled with subjective and bureaucratic decision-making processes mean that the current system is inefficient for the Home Office and the users of the UK immigration system. For example, under the current rules getting a UK work permit is a two-stage process whereby the employer seeking to fill a genuine vacancy can be granted a work permit, only to have the candidate for the vacancy subsequently refused UK entry clearance or leave to remain in the UK in a completely separate decision based on different assessment criteria.