Scottish Government Report outlines key focus areas for future Scottish migration

This month the Scottish Government published their report A Scotland for The Future: The opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population in which the Scottish Government sets out its first national population strategy. The report outlines 3 key focus areas and 8 key action points of the Scottish Government for future Scottish migration.

The report highlights that overseas migration to Scotland in future decades is “essential to addressing our demographic challenges – our declining birth rate, ageing population, and rural depopulation” to ensure Scotland has “sustainable, vibrant and resilient communities now and into the future.” Statistics in the report demonstrate Scotland’s migration patterns align with the rest of the UK in that the majority of people migrating to Scotland are people of working age and continued positive migration of this nature is vital.

However, the simultaneous end of free movement and the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to impact continued migration of working people to Scotland. The report outlines an expected 50-80% reduction on net EU migration to Scotland due to the end of free movement and the new UK Immigration regime. This pattern is also expected to disproportionately impact rural areas and women, as fewer will be able to meet the required salary thresholds of the new UK immigration system.

Furthermore, both the end of free tuition fees to EU undergraduates and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to reduce the number of international students attending Scottish universities. Although the report does acknowledge the true impact of Covid-19 cannot be fully assessed as yet, the decline of international students coming to Scotland may impact Scotland’s position as a leader in international student and staff recruitment.

Scottish Government’s Three Key Focus Areas

To counteract and prevent a decline in migration to Scotland, the Scottish Government has outlined its three key focus areas for future migration:

1. Welcoming and supporting those who choose to make Scotland their home

The Scottish Government is seeking to achieve the first objective through various initiatives. In January 2021, the Scottish Government launched Moving to Scotland, a resource to assist migrants moving to Scotland with various aspects of migration, from working in Scotland to lifestyle issues and finding a home. While the Scottish Government’s Stay in Scotland campaign is a resource to support EU nationals wishing to remain in Scotland.

2. Supporting businesses to attract and retain international talent in Scotland

To achieve the second objective, the Scottish Government is currently developing a Talent Attraction and Retention Service and supporting the delivery of two initiatives, specifically Skills Recognition Scotland and TalentScotland, in an effort to attract talent to Scotland and retain skilled workers. This is of particular importance as the new skills and salary thresholds introduced in the UK immigration system are unlikely to be met in key sectors in Scotland, particularly agriculture and social care, which may lead to significant labour shortages.

Statistics show migration to Scotland tends to be highly-skilled and well-educated individuals which helps raise productivity, contributes to Government revenue and alleviates issues relating to skills shortages while complementing the skills of non-migrant workers therefore helping Scotland prosper. This is a trend which the Scottish Government are keen to nurture.

3. Supporting universities to attract international students and staff to Scotland

The Scottish Government is working with Scottish Higher Education Institutions to ensure that Scotland continues to be a safe, secure and welcoming destination for international students to study. Their work includes working with the EU to explore options for maintaining the Erasmus Plus programme. The Scottish Government’s lobbying of the Westminster Parliament has already achieved a goal, namely the reinstatement of a post-study work visa route, as the Home Office recently introduced the launch of the Graduate Visa in July 2021.

The Scottish Government’s objectives set out in the report focus on a need for a tailored approach to Scottish migration to meet the country’s distinct needs, separate from the UK Government’s overall policy. The report states “Scotland is a welcoming and open country, with a long history of welcoming people of all nationalities. We want people from across the UK, and across the world, to make Scotland their home. We are committed to upholding and promoting equality and human rights for all people.” 

As immigration is a matter for the UK Government, the Scottish Government is severely restrained in its ability to fully achieve the objectives in the report.  At present, the UK immigration system does not make a distinction between the migration needs or objectives of the individual countries within the UK, and the Home Office has rejected the possibility of regional variations of salary thresholds. It, therefore, remains to be seen the impact the Scottish Government’s initiatives and policies will have on the landscape of future Scottish migration without the UK Government’s acknowledging of Scotland’s individual migration needs.

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