SA nurses face tough new UK restrictions

Thousands of South African nurses working in the UK could be forced to return home because of new immigration rules introduced by the British Government this week.

Under the new regime, employers in the UK will only be granted a work permit for a foreign nurse if they can prove they were unable to find a suitable candidate in Britain or the European Union. Previously nursing was exempt from this requirement as one of the "shortage occupations" where there weren't enough qualified people locally to meet the demand.