Should different parts
of the UK have different
immigration policies?

3 November 2017

Following our departure from the EU, the UK’s immigration system is likely to have its biggest overhaul since the introduction of the points-based system in 2008.

UK immigration policy is currently decided at the national level. However, with discussions surrounding the post-Brexit immigration landscape intensifying, proposals for a regionalised visa system have increased.

One report from The Migration Observatory called ‘Location, Location, Location: Should different parts of the UK have different immigration policies?’ outlines the main arguments in favour of and against regionalised immigration.

The call for a subnational visa system has been a political debate for the past few years and various proposals have been put forward. The discussions have, however, intensified since the EU referendum.

How would it work?

Proposals for regionalised immigration policies generally focus on work-based migration. A regional work visa system could be designed in a variety of different ways. However, assuming the Tier 2 work permit system would continue to exist and permit UK based employers to hire skilled migrants nationwide, region specific visas would most likely focus on meeting less skilled local labour needs.

One huge challenge for implementing such a scheme would be to decide who determines the criteria to be set for each region’s visa policy. Would regional immigration policy be determined in Westminster, devolved to local government or set by a combination of the two?

Is it feasible?

Concerns about a regional immigration policy are that it would create “enforcement problems” essentially opening a “back door” into the rest of the country. In other words, people might apply to migrate to one region but then live or work in another.

Under the current system for non-EU citizens (Tier 2), visas are for a specific job and employers must notify the Home Office if their employee stops working there. If regional visas were also tied to specific jobs in a given region, the situation would in principle be no different. Therefore “migrants would not necessarily have more of an incentive to violate immigration rules under a regional system compared to a UK-wide one.”

The report states, “Subnational visas are feasible from an operational perspective.” However, these would require a new system of regional government. Director of The Migration Observatory and Author of the report, Madeline Sumption, commented that “any benefits would have to be weighed against the administrative costs of moving to a more complicated immigration system.”

To read the full report from The Migration Observatory click here.

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