LONDON, Aug 22 Reuters Britain has received a surge in job searches from overseas during the past year, partly reflecting a postBrexit relaxation in work visa rules for nonEuropean Union nationals, figures from recruitment website Indeed showed on Tuesday.

A record 5.5 of searches for British jobs on Indeed39;s website in June came from potential applicants outside the country, up from 4.4 a year earlier and an average of 3.6 from 2017 to 2019.

Pawel Adrjan, Indeed39;s director of research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the increase showed a growing interest in higherskilled jobs like software development from nonEU applicants, and a shift from lowerskilled roles European workers had filled before Britain left the EU in January 2020.

The UK government39;s new immigration policy is operating as intended, Adrjan said.

EUbased job seekers accounted for 1.4 of Indeed39;s UK job searches in June down slightly from before Brexit while nonEU interest has more than doubled to 4.1 of searches. India, Nigeria, South Africa and Pakistan were some of the main origins for searches.

The Bank of England has focused on labour shortages as wage growth has accelerated to its highest in more than 20 years despite a recent fall in inflation.

The UK government phased out most EU nationals39; unrestricted right to move to Britain to work after Brexit.

However, visa rules were relaxed to no longer require employers to show they were unable to hire a British or EU…