Immigration Regulation Issues in the UK after Brexit

Abstract

The outcome of the UK EU membership referendum, which to some extent can be considered as a protest against the freedom of movement, fueled the rise of hate crimes, discrimination rhetoric and the xenophobia in British society. The government pledged to impose new restrictive rules (effective from January 1, 2021) in order to enhance migration control and reduce the number of low-skilled working migrants. These measures, according to certain experts, can have an opposite effect. Against the backdrop of the reduced net-migration, illegal migration channels had been activated. Thus, cooperation between the UK authorities and the EU countries is extremely relevant (39 Vietnamese migrants’ death in October, 2019). The author analyses migration flows after the EU membership referendum and the UK government efforts to develop a «fair migration system». It is concluded that after the transition period in the UK-EU relationship, the UK government will need to develop a new comprehensive set of measures to counter illegal migration and human trafficking.

Keywords

• united kingdom
• brexit
• human trafficking
• illegal migration
• smuggling
• asy- lum seekers
• working migrants
• points-based immigration system