The UK Border Agency announced that the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has completed its review of Tier 1 of the UK’s points-based immigration system. The MAC report recommends that:

• salary multipliers used to convert previous earnings (from outside the UK) into a UK equivalent should be rapidly and thoroughly reviewed;
• migrants with a bachelor's degree but no master's degree should be allowed to come to the UK if their previous earnings are sufficiently high;
• professional qualifications (e.g., law or accountancy) should be considered the equivalent of a master's degree;
• the pay thresholds should be substantially increased, with no points for previous annual earnings below £24,000;
• migrants with previous annual earnings of at least £150,000 should not need to meet the education requirements;
• applicants should receive points for their age if they are 39 or under; and
• successful applicants should initially be allowed to come to the UK for two years -- not three years -- with the possibility of a three-year extension if they are in highly skilled employment.

The MAC continues to favor permitting migrants to work in the country after completing a UK course of study, but recommends reconsidering whether all courses and institutions should continue to be treated equally.

A decision whether to implement the recommendations is expected in early 2010. MAC’s previous recommendations concerning Tier 2’s advertising requirements were recently instituted.