White Paper and post-Brexit immigration

This sub-topic looks at the trajectory of structural changes to UK immigration policy from the end of the Brexit transition period. It covers the citizens’ rights settlement agreed with the EU and its domestic implementation, the initial post-Brexit immigration system which applied to both EEA and non-EEA citizens which was put into place by the previous Conservative government, and the immigration White Paper ‘Restoring control over the immigration system’ published by the Labour government on 12 May 2025 which sets out significant changes it intends to introduce over the course of this Parliament.

Citizens’ rights

On 23 June 2016, the UK held a referendum on its European Union (EU) membership. A 51.9% majority voted in favour of the UK leaving the EU (‘Brexit’). On 29 March 2017, the UK government gave formal notification of the UK's intention to withdraw from the EU under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). As of exit day (11 pm on 31 January 2020), the UK is no longer an EU Member State.

European Economic Area (EEA)/Swiss citizens (termed ‘EEA citizens’ for these purposes) and their family members

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