A leaked government document from Home Office, UK has been made public amidst debates and controversies about the prevailing immigration issue. The document lays out a myriad of reforms to be carried out in the UK’s immigration system in a total of three phases after separating from the European Union. UK is planning to impose caps on unskilled migrant workers.
The principal motive behind this plan is to differentiate between EU migrants planning to live and work in the UK and those planning to settle there. In essence, the automatic right of the settlement will no longer prevail for European citizens. The immigration system will be consistent with UK laws instead of the EU regulations in place at the moment which puts forward an idea of having a threshold for salary and skill sets.
Going further, the Home Office has hinted at a system of work permits for migrants from EU. Low skilled migrants will have a maximum of two years permission to live and work in the UK, while the skilled migrants can remain for a maximum of five years.
This has caused an outcry from various organizations and unions, predominantly from the farmer’s associations and the hospitality industry. Their concern puts the entire food supply chain at risk, and their purport is that bulk of these jobs are unattractive to Britons. This, in turn, makes them turn to migrants to fill up those positions to keep the wheels turning.
On the other hand, organizations like migration watch have showered praises on the Home Office for conceiving plans of reducing the net migration figures from EU below a figure of 100,000.
A debate is likely over this document being put in place and all cards will be on the table to decide the future of immigration policy in the UK. Whatever the results, the immigration issue is real and can not be ignored for long. But the results may perchance sway in favor of the Home Office and it might open the labor market to migrants from other countries which are less demanding of UK’s resources.