The Point Based System – PBS – is a system which was implemented by the United Kingdom Home Office to effectively help with the skills gap and labour requirements within the United Kingdom. It targets the highly skilled tier 1 visa applicants.

The concept of the PBS is not novel. The PBS is widely applied in highly industrialized nations like Australia to great effect.

The United Kingdom’s Home Office decided to borrow a leaf from these nations. The Office rolled off the Point Based System on February 29th, 2008, to replace the then existing Highly Skilled Migration Process – HSMP.

The PBS is more efficient when it comes to identifying the skills demands and filling the labour gaps than HSMP. This is because with the PBS, there is an advisory board known as the Skills Advisory Board which is mandated to identify the skill and labour demand in the United Kingdom.

Once the board identifies the skills gap, it recommends the changes which have to be implemented to the PBS in order to effectively address these needs. Such recommendations include increasing the points for tier 1 visa applicants with the desired skills in shortage. The move can be reversed when enough people with the desired skill set have been found to meet the labour demands.

The Point Based System is superior to HSMP in that it is a linear and more efficient application process. By implementing the PBS, the United Kingdom has been able to consolidate study and work permits to just 5 easily manageable tiers.

In addition to being a more transparent and objective system, the PBS also acts as a filter that only allows entry to those individuals whose skills are in demand in the United Kingdom.