MINISTERS have revealed plans to pilot a Scottish visa scheme to allow some businesses to more easily recruit foreign nationals.
The new scheme is designed to help resolve a shortage of workers in certain sectors post-Brexit.
But with immigration reserved to Westminster, the Scottish Government has had to send its plans to the Home Office to be rubber-stamped.
The pilot initiative has been created by Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Islands, and Europe Minister Neil Gray and aims to attract workers to areas struggling to recruit staff in remote areas. Scotland’s rural areas have experienced population decline over a number of years.
In 2019, their share of the working-age population was between 6 and 7% below the Scottish average.
Many rural areas are dependent on migration to fill vacancies with many jobs in care homes, hospitality and farm work not meeting the required salary thresholds set by the UK Government to allow people from the EU or other parts of the world to take up posts.
Prior to Brexit freedom of movement across the EU allowed EU nationals to work in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK without the need for a visa.
The scheme will build upon wider work the Scottish Government has submitted to the Migration Advisory Committee to date, which has shown how the current UK immigration system does not meet the economic and demographic needs of Scotland’s communities.
The UK’s Migration Advisory Committee said in 2019 that “the current migration system is not very effective in dealing with the particular problems remote communities experience".
The committee highlighted evidence from the Scottish Government on remote communities in their report of May 2019, and recommended the UK Government pilot a scheme to attract and retain migrants in remote areas.
Ministers in Edinburgh believe the new Scottish visa plan could be implemented within the current UK immigration system.
Their report, published on Tuesday, stated: "We have developed a robust and deliverable proposal which draws on international evidence, clearly reflects the needs of local communities and employers, and based on existing immigration enforcement."
It added that the proposed Scottish Rural Community Immigration Pilot (SRCIP) is modelled on a Canadian scheme designed to boost the population of its rural areas.
"The SRCIP would present a distinctly new, community-driven and employer-based migration route. It would offer a world-leading approach to spread the benefits of immigration to smaller communities, enabling migration – based upon genuine employment opportunity – which would meet the economic and societal needs of a specific community (either in respect to acute shortage, or potential for future growth/regeneration)," the document said.
Under the scheme, employer sponsors taking part within designated geographic areas referred to as Community Pilot Areas would be able to advertise vacancies overseas.
Employers and communities would then be able to assess prospective candidates, before recommending chosen candidates to the Home Office for final approval and security checks.
Once a decision is approved employers, councils and other local organisations could offer a package of help to newcomers as they settle into life in rural Scotland.
Migrants would be required to adhere to conditions of employment whereby they are employed within the designated community pilot area, with restrictions easing gradually over a period of four years.
After four years, restrictions would lift and migrants would be free to work anywhere in the UK, outside of their pilot area.
