What Could Be The Impact Of The New Immigration Policy on UK’s Economy?

UK taking full control of the Borders

Secretary of State for the Home Department has presented the UK’s new Points-Based Immigration System Policy Statement to the Parliament. The objective of the policy statement is to set out the guidelines on how the administration will fulfil their commitments regarding border norms to the citizens of the United Kingdom and take back control of the country’s borders territory, which could restrict the unnecessary influx into the country. This is being implemented consequent to the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, that was formally completed on 31^st January 2020.

The introduction of the immigration will seek to restrict the free movement in and around the border areas, and a stringent and democratically fair points-based system will be introduced. The purpose of this points based system will be to make the country attractive enough in terms of accessibility for workers and job seekers with better skills, that will be largely required to contribute to the UK economy, and the communities as well as the public services, and encourage people based on a worthy system. This will enable the administration to design a system that rewards skills and productivity in a way that creates the potential for the economy to improve further.

The government intends to develop a system that can be fair to the citizens of the entire United Kingdom and rewards people based on their merit, rather than their origination, by supporting every single person with equal and enough opportunities.

The policy statement also mentioned that for the first time in around 60 years, since the time when the UK was a part of the European Union, the government and the home office will have the high hold in terms of the control on border and immigration policies as to who comes in the United Kingdom area and how the country’s immigration machinery should operate. This policy statement also looks to deliver on how the administration will seek to grasp opportunity by using a new point based system, which is being used by various other governments, such as in Australia.

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Highlights of the new immigration points system

• As per the new policy, UK borders will not allow non-skilled workers, as skilled work requirement is one of the essentials in the requirements of the new points based system. Another factor will be the fact that the people seeking to enter the United Kingdom will have to speak English at a required level set by the government.
• Any person willing to come into the country for the purpose of a job or work should have a job offer in hand, sponsored by a company that either operates in or has offices in the United Kingdom, along with a salary level of at least £25,600 annually to earn any points. However, this has not been made essential, as a base level salary of £20,480 will also be accepted in some specific cases, that include cases like having expertise in areas like nursing or some other specific skill sets that will be defined by the UK Home Office.
• No room has been left for a self-employment mode for the people moving into the country, with certain skillsets for the purpose of starting to deliver their own services. This will mark an end of the road for people such as Polish plumbers or Romanian builders, who have previously enjoyed the free pass to enter the country.
• One of the most important parts of the policy statement is that border control will not be allowed to accept Identification of any sort of people coming in from other big European Countries such as France, Spain and Italy. This part of the policy has been issued to make sure that no illegal immigrants from other countries are allowed to enter on the basis of stolen identification cards.
• The statement also mentions that the foreign nationals who want to pursue a job in the United Kingdom will be allowed to have an education threshold from degree to A- levels or the equivalent of such education. Along with this, there will not be any limit on the number of skilled works allowed into the country, while at the same time and a few of highly skilled job seekers will be given an opportunity to enter the boundaries of the country even in a situation where they do not have a job.
• Another highlighting points from the policy statement are that people who are artists, entertainers, sportspersons and musicians and are willing to enter the country for the purpose of some kind of a competition or a performance, will be allowed access to come into the country and will be retained.

Reactions from experts and UK Businesses

As soon as the announcement came into the public, reactions from various immigration experts, opposition parties and businesses started to pour in.

When the policy was presented in the Parliament, various Business Heads opposed the government regarding this decision, maintaining their stance that this policy will be an act of assault on the economy, stating that it would lead to huge negative consequences such as job losses and closing down of businesses and manufacturing facilities, as well as having a discouraging impact on the firms operating on the high street.

The members of the opposition such as the Labour Party and the Liberal democrats came out in strongly opposed this new policy, stating that this policy would culminate into huge disaster for the healthcare space in the United Kingdom, as a lot of healthcare professionals in the country come from other countries and are considered to be semi-skilled professionals.

Various experts have also mentioned that such changes in the policy have an effect on the food processing and manufacturing companies that are dependant on the workers coming in from the other parts of the European Union. It was pointed that these companies would have a tough time to keep the shelves of the supermarkets completely full of food items, a lot of which are also sourced from the other parts of the European Union, primarily because of the availability of these workers. Another expert named Tom Hadley who is the current director of policy at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) mentioned that jobs and work areas that the government considers being low skilled, play an extremely important role for the growth of the economy and are essential for sectors such as healthcare and hospitality as well as for support services that enable growth to other businesses. He also mentioned that this announcement might play a key role in moving people out of the country, who play a vital role and contribute to the public services that the citizens of the country depend on a day to day basis.

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