UK Immigration White Paper 2025: Scottish Government proposals

‘Controlled immigration’ and ‘capped’ Visa routes

The Scottish Government recognises that previous correspondence on the subject of tailored migration routes has yielded valid questions around ensuring that the terms of a geographically restrictive visa are adhered to, and not abused or exploited by those entering the UK on any such route. It is also reasonable of the UK government to seek to ensure that its own stated aim to reduce net migration to the UK would not be compromised through the creation of geographically tailored routes to particular countries or regions.

The Scottish Government agrees that migration should be controlled to deter and prevent abuse, fraud and criminal activity, including terrorism, human trafficking and other serious offences, and that this should be reflected in the design and delivery of visa routes.

Latest immigration figures from ONS show that Scotland is the only country within the UK to have experienced positive net migration from other parts of the UK; i.e., more people have chosen to move to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK than to leave Scotland for another UK country. This provides evidence against an oft-stated concern that a tailored migration route to Scotland would be abused by people immediately crossing the border to settle in England. This evidence underpins Scotland’s position as an attractive and welcoming country.

In order to ensure that the geographically tailored migration routes proposed in this paper are mutually beneficial to both the Scottish and UK Governments (meeting Scotland’s demographic needs whilst not hampering the wider UK stated aims to reduce net migration), each route would initially be designed and implemented as a ‘capped’ route, similar to routes for Seasonal Agricultural Workers, Youth Mobility routes, and geographically tailored routes in other international examples such as Canada and Australia.

We believe that given the difference in population size of England compared to that of Scotland, it would be possible to establish a cap which could be seen to be mutually beneficial to both governments.

Given that Scotland’s population makes up 8% of the overall UK population, with England accounting for 85%, a clear argument can be made that the introduction of capped, tailored routes to address specific demographic and economic needs in Scotland could be introduced without significantly offsetting any continued measures to curb inward migration to England.

According to ONS estimates for 2023, published in 2024, over 88% of international migration into the UK was into England. Only 7% of inward migration into the UK was into Scotland. Even if Scotland was to more than double its share of inward international migration through the introduction of Scotland specific tailored migration routes, this would be comfortably offset by actions taken by the UK Government to reduce the volume of migration into England alone.

Through a combination of Scotland-specific residency requirements, tying individuals to the Scottish Tax Code, and agreed caps for all tailored migration routes, the Scottish Government are optimistic that agreement can be reached with the UK Government that changes to the immigration system which better meet Scotland’s needs can be delivered in a controlled and sustainable manner. It has been suggested that individuals may seek to move to Scotland with the aim of making a subsequent move to England. However, the evidence is clear that individuals want to move to Scotland, given that Scotland is the only part of the UK with positive net migration from other parts of the UK.