The United Kingdom is planning to roll out laws that will make migrating and immigrating to the country harder. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the government is committed to reducing net migration to just “tens of thousands”. The UK’s current policies on migration and immigration are believed to be why the country voted to exit the European Union, which is dealing with one of the biggest refugee crises since World War II.
The move is likely to affect Indians and other non-British citizens hoping to move to the country for work or to study. Rudd also announced a series of new restrictions on international students, including stricter visa rules for “poorer quality universities”, The Guardian reported. The new measures include mandatory immigration status checks, possible jail time for landlords who rent their homes to illegal immigrants and tighter conditions for banks to provide accounts to foreigners, as well as conditions for companies hiring employees abroad.
Rudd added that the move to bring in international employees to the UK had become a “box-ticking exercise”, and that certain companies “get away” without training people who lived in the country. “We won’t win in the world if we don’t do more to upskill our own workforce. It’s not fair on companies doing the right thing,” she said.
According to The Daily Mail, Rudd also said the country’s vote to leave EU was a “clear message” that they needed to tackle high immigration. She said, “This government will not waver in its commitment to put the interests of the British people first…Reducing net migration back down to sustainable levels will not be easy. But I am committed to delivering it on behalf of the British people.”
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