UK to Reveal Details of Post-Brexit Immigration System

On Wednesday, the United Kingdom’s interior minister will discuss the post-Brexit immigration system which will seek to limit the current inflows of migrants.

RELATED: 
UK's May: Vote on Brexit Deal to Take Place on Week of Jan. 14

The new system is marked by a reduction of migration to reach “sustainable levels,” according to a statement by the interior ministry.

What this means is that free movement of migrants to the UK from other European countries will become to an end as expected, according to Reuters.

However, this does not mean that there will be zero entry opportunities to the country. It does mean that “skilled workers” workers will have privileged access.

“It will be a single, skills-based immigration system built around the talent and expertise people can bring, rather than where they come from–maximizing the benefits of immigration and demonstrating the UK is open for business,” according to Javid.

In the Brexit aftermath, authorities will need to provide new visa channels for skilled workers and there will be no cap for “high-skilled” workers such as engineers and doctors.

Immigration is at the heart of Brexit, as many people voted in favor of exiting the European Union in order to curtail the entry of migrants to the country.

The specific details of the new visa route for skilled migrants are contained in a “white paper” which covers European migration as well as all other destinations of foreign travelers seeking to reside in the UK.  

The white paper reflects a recommendation from the independent Migration Advisory Committee to eliminate the threshold of 20,700 for skilled workers holding a Tier-2 work visa.

A controversial issue which will supposedly be cleared up in the Javid’s official address is the US$34,071 minimum salary requirement for the Tier-2 visas, which was also proposed by the Advisory Committee.

The new immigration system has received a lot of backlash from politicians and industry leaders.

This is because the new requirements will are seen as potentially hurtful for certain industries seeking low-skilled labor, harming “large areas of the economy,” according to Chancellor Phillip Hammond.

“It is clearly the prime minister who is driving this because this for her is really personal,” Nicholas Watt, the BBC’s political editor, said.

The embattled Prime Minister Theresa May has hailed the immigration system as one of the ways her administration will fulfill her promise to uphold the Brexit vote.

The new immigration and borders system which is soon to be unveiled will come into force in 2021.

This re-orientation of the migration system which is to take place in the UK is in line with a conservative far-right political tendency gaining momentum in Europe, which rejects migration both from within and from outside of Europe.