Immigration news

Leader of the Labour Party in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn, faces a backlash from Labour MPs after refusing to back post-Brexit restrictions on immigration. Speaking prior to his closing speech at Labour’s Annual Party Conference in Liverpool, Corbyn said that ‘restricting free movement could see Britons pay the price in tit-for-tat retaliation.’

Corbyn’s view is that the ‘harmonisation of wages and working conditions’ across Europe – and not the restriction of free movement – holds the key to restoring public confidence in immigration.

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.

As nations across Europe, including the UK, clampdown on the number of non-EU workers entering their countries and Donald Trump in the US promises even tougher immigration controls, Switzerland has announced that it will issue an extra 1,000 work permits to immigrants from outside of the European Union. From 2017, the Swiss government will make 7,500 B and L permits available to non-EU workers.

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. Since she made the remarks a further announcement has been made and it will be more difficult to come under the Tier 2 visa scheme and Tier 2 Sponsorship Licence Scheme.

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.