According to ATSCo, the Association of Technology Staffing companies, the number of foreign IT workers entering the UK continues to rise.

Of the 38,450 work permits handed to non EU IT workers last year, 82 per cent went to India, which ATSCo called the principal offshore destination for British jobs. This compares to the 33,756 given out in the twelve months before.

ATSCo gathered the data through a Freedom of Information Act information request, approaching Work Permits UK, the Home Office body responsible for visas. It found that the number of foreign IT workers coming to the UK has increased by 209 per cent over the last five years.

The bulk of permits were given to staff relocating between offices in different countries, an activity often described as ‘onshore offshoring’. ATSCo said this involved firms hiring staff in low cost markets before transferring them elsewhere.

Ann Swain, Chief Executive at ATSCo, said, “Organisations have been offshoring UK IT jobs in order to cut costs, but now they are exploiting the leaky visa system to import cheap labour from abroad. There was a fear that support functions would be the thin edge of the wedge and that mid-level IT roles would go offshore next, but what is happening is quite different. Foreign IT workers are actually coming to the UK to take these mid-level roles.

Our concern is that the British IT workforce is being bypassed and that this is damaging the long-term competitiveness of the UK IT industry.”

ATSCo said that in line with Home Office rules firms should seek firstly to employ staff from the UK before attempting to hire staff from abroad. However, she added, “With the Home Office inundated with applications, the concern is that some organisations are only paying lip service to the legal requirement to thoroughly search for candidates within the UK…

Is it any wonder so few students are choosing IT when entry-level jobs are being sent offshore and workers are being brought in from overseas for mid-level positions?”