Britain’s interior minister Sajid Javid will on Wednesday publish plans for a post-Brexit immigration system.

:: Britain’s interior minister Sajid Javid will on Wednesday publish plans for a post-Brexit immigration system that would bring net migration to the UK down to “sustainable levels”, his department said.

It said details of the new system, which will mark the end of free movement from other European Union countries, will be set out in an immigration white paper.

The plans will include a new visa route for skilled workers and no cap for high-skilled professions such as doctors and engineers.

Socio-economic impact

Concern about the long-term social and economic impact of immigration helped drive Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the EU after large numbers of people, especially from poorer member states in eastern Europe, moved there to live and work.

“It will be a single, skills-based immigration system built around the talent and expertise people can bring, rather than where they come from – maximizing the benefits of immigration and demonstrating the UK is open for business,” Javid will say.

The white paper follows a report by the Migration Advisory Committee in September which recommended Britain should not give preferential treatment to EU workers in its post-Brexit immigration system but should priorities the higher-skilled.

The new immigration and borders system will be implemented in a phased approach from 2021, the interior ministry said.