Your coverage of the planned increase in the skilled visa salary threshold (Cleverly to announce salary threshold rise as part of new migration package, 4 December) says that it will mark a return to days when non-EU migrants generally required degrees. But it is far more restrictive than this implies – consider the impact on academics, who are likely to have more degrees than anyone else.
Early-career posts at universities often start at less than £38,000. Currently, there are postdoctoral positions being advertised at (among others) the University of Oxford, Lancaster University, University of Birmingham, London School of Economics, and University of Manchester, all of which start below the new salary threshold. This is not to single out these universities. These positions are competitive, and anyone qualified for them is likely to have spent the best part of a decade becoming an expert in their field. If universities cannot recruit the best candidates from around the world, it will damage UK higher education.
The collective economic, cultural and social damage will be serious and long-lasting.
Dr Sam Grinsell
Postdoctoral fellow, the Bartlett School of Architecture, London
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