Ten ways Sajid Javid can resolve UK’s hostile immigration policies

The appointment of Sajid Javid, the son of an immigrant, as Home Secretary, gives me hope that we can now move towards sensible immigration policies which recognise the benefits that migration brings to this country. We need a fundamental change of attitude to immigration and I recommend the new Home Secretary implement seven changes in policy. These policies should take the place of the ill-informed, hostile and economically illiterate attitude that this government has shown to date on immigration.

1. Reintroduce exit checks: Since 1998, Britain has not had physical, visible exit checks at our borders. Passports are checked when people enter the country, but not when they leave. The e-borders system we have in place is not good enough — particularly given the serious security and terrorism threats we face. We need to make sure that every passport, EU and non-EU, is scanned on entry and also when people leave the country. And only by having exit check data will we have a truly accurate picture of net migration. We currently rely on the International Passenger Survey (IPS) for net migration data and, last summer, the Government admitted that IPS figures were experimental — in other words, completely unreliable.

2. Abolish net-migration targets: The Conservatives imposed a target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands. In my view, the net migration target is completely arbitrary and should be scrapped. Immigration needs to be controlled, but not in such a crude manner.

3. Be compliant, not hostile, towards immigration: The Home Office’s recently retired Head of Immigration Enforcement, David Wood, believes there may be as many as one million undocumented illegal immigrants in this country. We simply don’t know the true figure but sending vans around the country telling illegal immigrants to go home is not the right way to tackle the problem. Neither is the practice of imposing hostile deportation targets. Instead, the government should have a compliant approach as suggested by Javid.

4. Build Free Trade Deals around movement of people: One mantra at the heart of Brexit is ‘Britain going global’ and forging trade deals around the world, including with India. Yet as Prime Minister Narendra Modi alluded to during Theresa May’s visit in 2016, trade deals are not just about goods and tariffs; they are about the movement of people. Prime Minister May, on her first visit to India in 2016, even brought up the issue of Indian migrants overstaying their visas. This was no way to win friends or use our global influence. We must ensure that every imbalance is redressed — for example, where Chinese business visitors and tourists may acquire two-year multiple entry visas at a reduced price of £85, for Indians, the price is still £388. This means British business is losing out on tourism and business from Indian visitors.

5. Meet the demand for skills: Good immigration policies allow immigration to fill the gaps in the British economy, filling vacancies, whether it is doctors or nurses required by the NHS or chefs for the multibillion pound curry industry which generates millions of pounds for the exchequer annually. Across the board, with a 4.2% rate of unemployment in the UK, we would have an acute labour shortage without workers from overseas, skilled and unskilled, including the 3.7 million EU citizens in the UK. Yet, while she was Home Secretary, Amber Rudd suggested that foreign workers should be listed by British companies, provoking an immediate reaction from British business which prompted the government to immediately back off. Such hostility to workers from overseas has resulted in proposals that would make Britain’s businesses suffer and Britain’s economy suffer, let alone the British consumer — it is economically illiterate.

6. Welcome international students: In my role as president of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, which looks after the interests of the 438,000 international students in the UK who contribute £25 billion to the economy, I know that there is cross-party support in both Houses of Parliament — and, to my knowledge, from most members of the Cabinet, not to mention the public — to remove international students from net migration calculations. This government must also reintroduce the two-year post-study work visa, which existed from 2008 to 2012.

7. Have a target to increase international students: We are in a global race where international students are concerned. Their numbers globally are increasing, with demand from Indian international students increasing by 8% annually. We should have a target to increase the number of international students to the UK.

8. Look ahead to Brexit: If we do leave the EU and the single market, we need to ensure that there is free movement of people that exists today — be it for our citizens as tourists overseas, be it for the over 3.7 million EU citizens who work in the UK or for the 20%  of our academics at our leading universities who are from the EU. Far from being a burden on this country, EU citizens in this country contribute six times more than they take out in public services, and operate at every level from low skilled to high skilled, in both the public and private sectors. In today’s globalised world, we need access to the best talent which has been easily available in the EU thanks to the single market; we mustn’t lose this advantage.

9. Be fair and reasonable: The Home Office’s hostile attitude to immigration needs to be completely eradicated, be it students — up to 7,000 international students have reportedly been asked to leave without a chance to appeal because they allegedly failed English language tests.

10. Use existing EU regulations that already give control of EU migration: It is ironic that one of the main reasons for Brexit was to take back control of borders and immigration. Yet we have been able to control our borders without leaving EU since 2004, when a directive allowed EU countries to repatriate EU nationals if they cannot support themselves after three months. Britain has never implemented this regulation whereas several other European countries, including Belgium, deport thousands of EU nationals ever year. Who says we do not have controls? We have, but we have never used this EU directive: why?

Karan Bilimoria is the founder and chairman of Cobra Beer, president of the UK Council for International Student Affairs and founding chairman of the UK-India Business Council.

The views expressed are personal