LONDON, Sept 9: Doctors from outside Europe may find it harder to work in Britain under new proposals put to the government on Tuesday which say they are not needed although maths teachers, dancers and chefs are welcome.

The interior ministry’s migration advisory committee unveiled a list of professions in which there are shortages, and for which it says immigrants from outside the European Economic Area should be allowed to fill.

Non-EEA workers entering Britain must conform to one of five categories: highly skilled, skilled in a profession that has shortages, students, temporary workers, or low skilled. This last group has temporarily been suspended.

The committee looked at the second category, and devised a list of professions who were lacking in Britain, including theatre and critical care nurses, maths and science teachers, vets, ballet dancers and ship officers.

Doctors other than specialist consultants are not on the list, after research revealed “concern about over-supply” of medical practitioners here, and reports that newly-qualified British doctors were struggling to find work.

Earlier this year, similar concerns prompted new immigration rules stopping doctors from outside the European Union applying for post-graduate training posts from 2009, a move that could affect up to 5,000 people next year.—AFP