UK Immigration News

Having confirmed that City Hall would press ahead with plans to introduce a work permit that’s exclusive to Britain’s capital, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in October that he expects to put forward proposals for an independent London work visa.

The UK’s National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is urging the government to trial a fixed-term work permit scheme under the UK Immigration System for seasonal non-EU farm workers, according to a report in Horticulture Week. The NFU wants the visa scheme in place by 2017 to enable the farming industry to acclimatise in case of a mass exodus of EU migrant workers, post-Brexit.

Verity O’Keefe, the senior employment and skills policy adviser to the UK manufacturers’ organisation EEF, had urged the government not to proceed with planned Tier 2 visa changes or, at least, pause them. O’Keefe had warned that further restrictions to the Tier 2 visa programme for non-EU migrants will exacerbate Britain’s skills shortage.

The High Court has ruled that parliament has to vote on whether the UK can start proceedings to leave the European Union. The latest twist in Britain’s ‘Brexit’ saga means that government plans to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty – to start formal negotiations to exit the EU – are subject to parliamentary approval. This may very well mean that UK Immigration free movement rights for EU workers will last for longer.

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has suggested that post-Brexit UK immigration controls may not apply to highly skilled foreign workers who are nationals of EU and EEA Countries. Hammond wants to see ‘high level’ workers exempted from strict immigration rules, saying that ‘there’s no reason why businesses should be restricted from recruiting top international talent.’

UK immigration minister, James Brokenshire, has revealed that London and Dublin will exchange data to prevent migrants using the Irish border as a backdoor route into Britain. In a bid to prevent the introduction of what officials are calling a ‘hard border’ between northern and southern Ireland, there will be additional UK immigration controls at Irish ports and airports once the UK exits the European Union.