A charge to ensure migrants who arrive in the Isle of Man contribute fairly to NHS services is set to be introduced.

An immigration health surcharge will be implemented this year.

And the minimum salary threshold for anyone arriving here on worker migrant visas is set to rise significantly from October.

But the increase from the current £20,800 to £25,447.50 is still far lower than the £38,700 in the UK - raising the possibility the move could further risk the island’s visa system being used as a backdoor to the UK.

The measures were unveiled by Cabinet Office Minister David Ashford in Tynwald this week.

He insisted: ‘Let me be very clear, this government’s position is to prioritise Manx workers’.

But he said that without an appropriate number of workers coming to the island it would risk vital roles going unfilled in key sectors such as health and social care services, financial services and hospitality.

Mr Ashford said there are a lot of public myths about what new arrivals are entitled to when they come here.

He pointed out that to receive contributions-based Jobseekers’ Allowance, you will need to have paid into the NI fund for at least two years and you need to be resident for five years to be entitled to Income Support (or married to, or a child of, that resident), and resident for 10 years before you are eligible to apply for public sector housing.

But currently, migrants living here can access NHS services from the moment they arrive.

Mr Ashford told members that the government will be bringing forward an Order in Council to Tynwald in July to enable the introduction of an Immigration Health Surcharge, modelled on the UK charge.

He said the aim was to introduce the new surcharge within this financial year. Work is under way, he said, on the precise scope of services covered by the charge, and potential exemptions. It will not apply to citizens from the UK, Ireland, Jersey or Guernsey.

Treasury Minister Dr Alex Allinson will set out the details in July.

Speaking at the Government Conference in September, Sandra Simpson, head of Customs and Immigration, said there was evidence to suggest that has been widespread abuse of the visa system.

This included use of false documents to obtain a visa, migrants offered visas under false pretences for jobs that didn’t exist or were not as advertised, recruiters charging fees for obtaining visas and the island’s visa system being used as a ‘back door’ to the UK.

A review of historical applications has been looking at patterns and trends to establish the extent of the abuse.

Mr Ashford told Tynwald there was a need to continually adapt and make changes to reduce the risk of abuse of the system or of people - a risk that he said faced all governments.

‘The world is changing, and we must continue to act to reduce the risk of criminal abuse of our immigration system,’ he said.

He said the increase to minimum salary threshold for worker migrant visas to £25,447.50 from October 1 will apply to visa applications received from that date.

This was a significant change from the previous minimum salary required of £20,800 and more closely reflected the island’s living wage, he said.

But the threshold in the UK- where further proposals to tighten immigration rules were outlined in a White Paper published last week - is £38,700.

Asked whether this could risk the island being exploited as a back door into the UK, Mr Ashford told the Manx Independent there was no evidence that this was the case.

He said we had different economic requirements to the UK. One of our key visa areas is health and care and increasing to £38,700 would effectively ‘starve’ the sector of the staff they need.

Mr Ashford also pointed out that the UK has variable rates according to sectors, and our new threshold will be higher than some of the other sector limits and exemptions across.