LONDON (AP) — Britain says it will lift a cap on the number of visas granted to foreign doctors and nurses to help ease staffing shortfalls in the National Health Service.

Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said Thursday that the government will remove non-European Union doctors and nurses from a cap on the number of skilled-worker visas that can be issued each year.

It's the first easing of immigration rules by a Conservative government with a longstanding — and unmet — goal of cutting net immigration to below 100,000. It's currently more than double that.

Critics say the target is arbitrary, unrealistic and economically harmful.

People from all 28 EU countries can now live in Britain under the bloc's free-movement rules. They will lose that automatic right when the U.K. leaves the EU next year.