With the expansion of the EU, and the extended population that now holds the right to work in the UK, workers have been arriving to the UK from Eastern Europe in growing numbers. The Working Holidaymaker visa has also been abolished, and although Tier 5 of the new Points Based System allows for youth mobility, the countries that participate in Tier 5 do not include most of the Commonwealth countries that used to enjoy the benefits of the Working Holidaymaker scheme.
The UK government has moved closer to sealing employment paths for black and Asian Commonwealth citizens, who in the past have been important to the British economy. The Points Based System (PBS), which is made up of 5 tiers, may well simplify economic immigration, but it may hinder international development, and strain relations with Commonwealth countries that the UK has historic ties with.
The idea that the UK prefers to source low-skilled workers from the EU, in preference of the traditional source, Commonwealth countries, which have until now been a key source of labour for businesses such as ethnic restaurants, will not sit well with many business owners, and customers alike.
Turning away from Commonwealth countries would reduce the UK’s influence throughout the world in the long term. Furthermore, payments paid to Commonwealth citizens that are transferred back to families overseas are greater than the level of development aid that is paid, in many cases, to the recipient countries. Commonwealth citizens will lose important funds that they are currently investing in their home countries, which ends up developing industry and infrastructure in their home countries. Lower skilled workers also develop many skills that they are able to take home with them, and further develop their own economies.
The final concern is the inability of lower skilled workers to earn Permanent Residence in the UK at all, under the Points Based System. Lower skilled workers develop invaluable skills while working in the UK, and their employers, more often than not, grow to rely upon such skills. Faced with the possibility of developing key members of staff that cannot obtain Permanent Residence, employers will always be taking a risk in employing them to begin with.
