By Sophia Emmanouil
[email protected]
Forget “Brexit”, highly qualified Greeks still retain an undiminished interest in moving to the United Kingdom for better job prospects, despite whatever uncertainties arising from the referendum, such as speculation over the transfer of multinationals’ headquarters or even recent rumors of downsizing and salary cuts by major companies.
According to statistics by the labour of ministry in Britain, the number of Greek nationals that moved to the UK for work in the first half of 2016 was up by 33.08 percent in relation to the corresponding period in 2015. On top of job seekers, some 22,000 Greek students are enrolled in a British higher education institutions, whereas a sizable number of Greek academics and researchers are listed on UK universities’ rolls.
According to a survey by “N”, Greek nationals were in 16th place in terms of issuance of National Insurance Numbers in 2015, a necessary prerequisite in order to find legal employment, moving up to 13th place in the first half of the current year. Greek nationals also posted the biggest increase, year on year, in terms of NIN permits from all other third countries.
Specifically, in the second trimester of 2016, 2,966 Greek nationals obtained a National Insurance Number, slightly down from 3,881 in the first quarter. In total, 60,507 Greek citizens have obtained a work permit for the UK since 2008.
