RICS to formally approach government over QS visas

The RICS has gained sufficient backing from the QS community to formally petition the government to relax work permit rules for foreign quantity surveyors. The institution issued a call for support in the last edition of QS News and has decided the response was strong enough to approach the government.

Chairman of the RICS QS and construction faculty Michael Byng said: “There really needs to be a rule change or you will see horrendous skills shortages. If we do not get this sorted you will not get the project controls skills needed for the Olympics.”

An RICS spokeswoman said: “We have received an awful lot of responses and we are very grateful. We will now approach the government. Our legal team is looking into how to proceed.” She added that the RICS would welcome further support.

Among those who have lent weight to the campaign is Philip Youell, chief executive of EC Harris. He said: “The government has got the mechanisms in place somewhere to assess QSs coming into the country, but try and find a department that will take responsibility for it.” EC Harris needs to recruit between 750 and 1,000 staff every year.

There needs to be a rule change or you will see horrendous skills shortages

Michael Byng, RICS

Bruce McAra, managing director of cost management, Turner & Townsend, is also backing the campaign: “All the Home Office needs to do is look at the forthcoming programme of government spending and the number of people graduating from QS courses it will be readily demonstrated there is a shortage.”

T&T processes between 30 and 35 work permits per year and employs one member of staff who works full time on staff immigration issues.

Patricia Moore, head of rail, London, at T&T, said that current work permit rules put an “excessive burden” on companies seeking to employ foreign QSs. “If we want to employ someone from overseas we have to go through a rigorous demonstration exercise to prove we have exhausted all other opportunities and cannot fill the post any other way. And it’s getting even more onerous.” She added that the firm has had visa applications rejected on the grounds that it had failed to demonstrate sufficient effort to recruit within the UK.

Other key backers of the campaign include AYH, Gleeds, Gardiner & Theobald, Cyril Sweett, Franklin + Andrews and Faithful+Gould.