UK looks to keep visa-free travel for EU citizens after Brexit

EU citizens will be free to visit the UK after Brexit without having to obtain visas, it has emerged, however the British government would impose restrictions on their employment.

According to reports in British daily newspaper The Times, an anticipated plan by the Home Office on post-Brexit migration will stipulate that there will be no extra curbs on EU citizens travelling to Britain through airports and ports. In practice it will mean there will be no passport checks, no CCTV cameras, and no checkpoints at the 300-mile border for EU national.

Under the draft proposals, EU citizens will be able to move to the UK and look for jobs without restrictions, but prospective employers will have to sponsor EU applicants by applying for permits issued by the government. The number of available permits will vary according to the sector, and the government may charge companies a fee to issue them. However, sources denied a claim in a report in the Times saying that the new system would involve a set number of work permits despite calls for the government to use quotas to control the number of skilled EU workers coming into the UK.

Ministers have repeatedly said that although Brexit will give the government the power to control immigration, that does not mean they want to stop it entirely, and that they want to continue to allow companies to hire skilled workers from the EU.

The immigration plans being published later this year will set out the government’s proposals for a new, long-term system. Different rules may apply during the transitional period that is likely to be imposed after the Brexit negotiations.