Earlier this year, the government consulted on the further development of immigration and border policy – it has now issued further guidance on planned activities in this area.
No fundamental changes are planned – the established policy direction remains in place, with focus on limiting inward-migration to those identified as highly-skilled, highly-paid or otherwise economically valuable.
Employers in the grocery industry may be left unsatisfied – keeping out the lower-skilled and lower-paid workers that some grocery businesses rely on remains a feature of the policy, rather than a fault.
Latest changes are aimed at improving the user experience for both migrants and business sponsors, via use of technology.
There will also be more thorough scrutiny of compliance (eg: using PAYE data to ensure that migrants meet salary requirements and that hours worked are not excessive).
The new policy forms part of a wider policy package, aimed at improving and modernising border operations for both people and goods, over the next few years.