Post Brexit update as low pound attracts UK tourist spending boom

The fall in the British pound following the vote to leave the EU has attracted even higher levels of tourists to the UK on shopping sprees, causing a leap in tax-free spending by overseas visitors, according to figures published in the Guardian.

Leading tax-free shopping company Global Blue said visitors from Asia and the US have been taking advantage of how much further their own currencies will go in the UK since the June referendum. It reported a 7% year-on-year increase in UK international tax-free shopping in July.

Countries such as Japan, Indonesia and the US were the nations that accounted for the biggest increase. Spending by Japanese visitors was up 96% in the UK compared with July 2015, while travellers from Indonesia spent 88% more than last year on tax-free shopping.

Chinese tourists’ spending was up just 6% for July, but the country still accounted for the largest portion of spending overall, with a 32% share.

Big Ben, London

The figures mirror advice by the Office for National Statistics last week that there were signs the fall in the pound since the referendum, which has made holidaying in the UK cheaper for overseas visitors, had attracted tourists on shopping sprees for luxury goods. Sales of watches and jewellery in July were up 16.6% on the same month last year, according to those official figures. The tourism boost combined with better sales of summer clothes to help drive an overall bounce in retail sales in July.

London certainly looks busier than ever as UK tourist’s crowd into attractions such as Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the British Museum.

Even if the hotels are fully booked, you can book accommodation with AIRBNB, which has been gaining popularity in the UK and keeping the hotel owners on their toes!

Despite predictions of doom and gloom by remain campaigners, the stock market is up, the UK economy is surviving and looks set to thrive outside of the EU.

However, people of Irish decent and clamouring for Irish passports and there has been a surge in the number of people applying to emigrate to Ne Zealand.

Over 10,500 Britons have inquired about emigrating to the country since the Brexit vote, the New Zealand Herald has revealed, more than double the number of the same period last year.

During the 49 days following Britain’s vote to leave the EU, 10,647 people from the UK registered with Immigration New Zealand, compared with 4,599 in 2015. On 24 June, the day immediately following the vote, the website received 998 British registrations, almost 10 times as many as the previous day’s tally of 109.

Registering with the New Zealand migration website allows would-be British émigrés to check whether their skills are in demand and if they meet immigration requirements. On the list of immediate skills shortages, New Zealand has urgent vacancies for poultry farmers, bakers, ski instructors, dentists and upholsterers, and others.

In other Brexit news, the majority of Britons – including those who voted to leave the European Union – want EU nationals living in the UK to be allowed to stay in the country after leaving the EU, according to a new poll.

Even though immigration was the main issue put forward by the Leave campaign, 77% of those who voted for Brexit and 78% of Ukip supporters agreed EU nationals currently here should be allowed to remain living in the UK.

Whilst 62% of those polled wanted to see a reduction in the number of unskilled migrants coming to the UK, a majority did not want to reduce the influx of highly-skilled migrants, such as engineers, as well as nurses and doctors needed to fill shortage occupation job vacancies in the NHS.

For information on a free online marketing course on how to survive and thrive in the digital economy and discover the truth about how to make money online, click here.

Train More British Nurses Instead of Importing Foreign Staff Says UK Prime Minister As International Recruits Ease NHS Staffing Crisis

Marking 100 days since the Conservatives won the General Election, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron was interviewed by Justin Webb for BBC Radio 4 this week. One of the questions he was asked was how he felt about the rising number of non-EU nurses coming to work in the UK to cover staff shortages in the NHS.

The RCN nursing union estimates that there are 20,000 nurse job vacancies in the NHS and warns of a staffing crisis as thousands of nurses retire in the next few years.

 Mr Cameron said we should be providing more nursing training for our own UK citizens for healthcare jobs that are currently growing within the economy.

Specifically on international nurses, Cameron added that the international nurses coming to work in the UK make a huge contribution to the country and the NHS, but called for better at workforce planning.

Knowing how many NHS nurses are needed, Cameron wants to encourage more young people to take nursing degrees at UK universities and promised help to provide the training places to meet the unmet demand.

In the meantime, thousands of job vacancies and shifts are being filled by expensive agency staff, which is why NHS hospitals are flying teams of managers all over the world to recruit international nurses. To add to their pressure, the government has also told NHS bosses to cut back on the millions spent on agency nurses.

Commenting on UK migration levels he stated that immigration controls go hand-in-hand with controlling the welfare system.

New immigration laws coming into force will mean that by April 2017 up to 30,000 non-EU nurses on Tier 2 Work Permits will have to leave the UK if they are not earning more that £35,000 per year. A Band 5 NHS nurse earns £25,000-£26,000, but could top this up with agency temping work.

Ironically, British trained nurses can easily earn well over £35,000 pa by taking up nurse jobs in America or Australia, prompting many of our best nurses to leave the UK each year, which only adds to the staffing time bomb in the NHS.

Bearing in mind that there are not enough places on nursing degree courses at British universities to meet current demands, and that it takes 3-4 years to train a nurse, it will be interesting to see how the NHS copes with UK nursing shortages over the next couple of years.

International nurses who want to work in the UK as a nurse should check the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) website for the requirements, such as an overall band score of 7.00 in the English language IELTS test, and new competency tests. Last year the NMC changed the old ONP scheme to a two stage test, which many nurses are failing.

For full details on the new registration process and working in the UK for non-EU trained nurses or midwives, visit the NMC website, or email me your CV if you are interested in migrating to the UK and working as a nurse or need a Tier 2 Work Permit and Home Office working visa sponsorship for a UK job in the NHS.

Overseas Nurses Working in UK Hospitals Despite Visa Restrictions

UK visa restrictions contained in the new 2014 Immigration Act will have far reaching consequences for overstayers and illegal immigrants. New Immigration Rules enable the Home Office to deport visa overstayers  - in some cases with no right of appeal - much faster forcing migrants and their families to leave the UK.

Legal migrants, such as students applying for visa extensions, can also be arrested by UK Border Officers and removed from the UK if their applications are refused by the Home Office and they no longer have valid leave to remain.

The UK has more job openings than in anywhere else in the EU, which has seen a sharp increase in EU immigration from countries such as Croatia, France, Italy, Spain and Romania.

In addition other former non-EU migrants, such as Filipinos living in Spain, are taking advantage of EU free movement rights and coming to the UK to work in care or nursing jobs in the NHS.

Migrants coming to the UK to work are taking thousands of shortage occupation jobs, such as care work or to fill the huge number of vacancies for nurses in the NHS or nursing homes.

NHS hospitals are recruiting doctors and nurses in EU countries such as Spain, and non-EU countries, for instance in the Philippines.

Overseas Nurse with Charles Kelly, Marketing Manager at Concept Care

If you are a nurse and want to work in the UK, make sure you check the UK NMC website and register.

EU nurses in most cases obtain automatic NMC registration. Non-EU nurses will need to obtain an IELTS English language test overall band score of 7.00. You will also need a year’s clinical experience in a hospital (not as a private or company nurse) and pass the new competency tests.

Tier 2 work permits are available for nurses, doctors, higher managerial level jobs or in ‘shortage occupations’, but not for care givers.

Beware of fake job advertisements offering working visas for unskilled jobs in care or catering and stick to government approved agencies. In the UK, Concept Care Solutions are on the LPP framework list of agencies approved to recruit overseas nurses for NHS hospital jobs.

For more information on UK jobs, immigration advice, help with Sponsorship, Work Permits, Visa, ILR, Settlement, Citizenship, Dependant Visa, Leave to Remain or visa refusal email me.