Without the right to apply for settlement, under these rules academics from the United States, India, China or Australia will think twice before applying for a job in Britain.
Under proposals announced a fortnight ago, migrants coming to the UK to work on temporary work visas will no longer be able to apply for settlement.
It therefore suggested abuse of the system, instead of compliance, and missed the key conclusion: that of all the categories tracked, students were, in fact, the least likely to be here after five years and the least likely to apply for settlement.
Partners and children of the teams can also apply for settlement.
The new regime adds more flexibility for migrants with overseas business interests: entrepreneurs and investors may be absent from the UK for 180 days a year, (rather than the usual 90 days) without losing the right to apply for settlement.
Administration officials say privacy laws forbid them from disclosing the amount of the settlement, but they insist that such agreements are common -- 540 companies applied for settlements and 293 were granted -- and insist that Mr. D'Amiano's fund-raising had no bearing on the matter.
So far, Mr. Mason said, about 10,000 homneowners have downloaded application forms from the settlement's Web site -- stuccosettlement.com -- of which some 1,000 have applied for the settlement.
These taxpayers will have until Jan . 2to apply for a settlement that can include an evaluation of the merits of the tax claims by a neutral expert.
Unlike the official scheme, where those accepted are given five years' "humanitarian protection" and can then apply for permanent settlement, asylum seekers face months or possibly years of waiting to gain refugee status.
But many of the very people who are most eligible to apply for a settlement — out-of-work shrimpers, fishermen and dock workers — are also the people who were hired to do cleanup work for BP.
