The UK has a long, intertwined and complicated history with India, the world’s largest democracy, and migration is a core and sometimes controversial part of that story. The UK’s 38 years as an EU member state may be a more recent memory, but the rapid expansion, and then the removal, of free movement with Europe has been a major demographic story of the early 21st century. In the last month, trade deals with India and the EU have addressed some – but far from all - of our trade partner’s questions about migration for their nationals. Matthew Davies and Vishal Makol round up the latest.
The UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
The UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed on 6 May 2025, does not include provisions for broader immigration or access to the UK domestic labour market. Both the UK and Indian Governments have emphasised that the FTA focuses on facilitating temporary business mobility rather than permanent migration.
Successive governments on both sides have long discussed special provisions for Indian Nationals to live and work in the UK, and to an extent, vice versa. Affection, resentment, economic arguments and national interest all feature. India’s shared history played its part in the shaping of the UK’s bedrock Immigration Act 1971; a long tradition of first and second generation Indian migrant success in business and technology has been established in the years since. In 2022, the UK’s first Prime Minister of Indian heritage took his place in this history, and the discissions carried on.
Specialist Indian professionals – temporary cultural exchange
The FTA allocates a special annual quota of 1,800 visas for Indian professionals in specific fields, including yoga instructors, as well as musicians and chefs. This initiative aims to promote cultural exchange and professional collaboration between the UK and India.
These visas are intended for temporary business mobility, allowing professionals to live, work, and engage in cultural exchange activities in the host country for a limited period. The agreement does not alter broader immigration provisions related to permanent migration or provide access to the UK labour market beyond them.
Students
Student visas were excluded from the FTA negotiations. There was background disappointment as special concessions had been mooted. The focus remains firmly on business mobility, addressing only relevant business visas.
India Young Professionals Scheme
Whilst not part of the FTA, the Young Professionals Scheme, launched in February 2023, allows young people from both countries to live, work, and study in each other's countries for up to two years. The 2025 ballot for the YPS opened on 18 February 2025, offering opportunities for 3,000 Indian Nationals aged 18 to 30 to visit the UK. Applicants must meet certain requirements, such as holding at least a bachelor's degree and demonstrating proof of savings.
India: what next?
For the time being, this may be the extent of additional immigration arrangements with India. The UK Government's stance on immigration, set out in May’s white paper is to reduce net migration by 100,000 annually, focusing on controlled and selective immigration. This policy has faced criticism from various quarters, including the Indian diaspora, who perceive it as restrictive and potentially harmful to bilateral relations.
While the UK-India FTA facilitates temporary business mobility and includes provisions like the Young Professionals Scheme, it does not match the UK's broader immigration policies or provide greater access to the domestic labour market for more than a select few Indian workers.
The UK - EU deal – a ‘win-win’ on immigration?
The UK’s 38 years as an EU member state may be recent, but most UK migration until the mid-twentieth century was from Europe. The first major UK statute dealing with immigration – the Aliens Act 1905 – was aimed primarily at control and restriction amidst a public mood of resentment and xenophobia around our future European partners; the term “undesirables” featured much during the passage of the Act. How things have - and have not – changed.
In April 2024, the European Commission proposed negotiating a reciprocal Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) with the UK, aiming to allow citizens aged 18–30 to live, work, and study in each other's countries for up to four years. This proposal was part of broader efforts to enhance post-Brexit relations and address the reduction in youth mobility.
The then UK Government rejected the EU's proposal, saying this would be back-tracking on free movement post-Brexit. Under Labour, there were signs of a subtle shift in approach. Starmer expressed interest in resetting UK-EU relations and indicated openness to discussing a YMS, provided it aligns with the government's immigration priorities.
Polling data indicated strong public support for a UK/EU YMS. A survey conducted by Opinium for Best for Britain found that 59% of UK respondents favoured negotiating a youth mobility scheme with the EU, with only 15% opposed. This sentiment spans various demographics, including age groups and political affiliations.
The EU continued to push for this as trade talks loomed this Spring. The UK continued to resist the idea that it would be open to all EU nationals, albeit time and age restricted – that would look too much like a partial winding back on the end of Brexit free movement. On the morning of the summit, Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was keen to emphasise, with Conservative and Reform shouts of “surrender!” ringing in his ears, that current YMS arrangements are “net negative” – i.e. more British people go to take them up overseas than temporary migrants come here.
It is worth remembering that this deal, like the Brexit negotiations before it, was put together between the UK and the central EU institutions acting as a single agent for EU states. This is not a country-by-country deal.
It’s a YES. Sort of.
In London on 19 May 2025, UK and EU leaders met to finalise trade deals.
As part of this, the UK confirmed its intention to pursue a Youth Experience Scheme (YES) with the EU, emphasising a "smart, controlled" plan that would not constitute a return to free movement. The Home Office has expressed conditional support, contingent on the scheme operating on a reciprocal "one in, one out" basis. As the first minister of Northern Ireland noted, the devil will be in the detail on this and all the deals; the scheme will be "capped and time-limited" and similar to the current YMS which covers some commonwealth countries. Could it, in fact, be subsumed into the current YMS rather than run parallel to it? Of course, it could.
What about EU students?
It is said that Ursula von der Leyen was wistfully recalling her student days in the UK during the negotiations, and eyeing a deal on preferential tuition fee levels. Brexit, the end free movement, and the legal principles underpinning it has meant a sharp fall in EU students at UK universities because EU students now must pay much higher international fees. A re-set on this will hit an already beleaguered sector with another income drop. At the date of writing, no agreement on this has been announced.
Borders, E-gates and a new security deal
After decades of cheap and easy European travel, it is a shock for UK Nationals to have to obtain pre-travel clearance to go to the EU, and vice versa, stand in line and be quizzed as to the purpose of their visit. Now, the E-gates will reopen for many travellers as the governments promise to “end the dreaded queues" at border control. The problem is that law and practice may differ as to when. “European Union citizens can use E-gates in the United Kingdom and that there will be no legal barriers to E-gate use for British Nationals traveling to and from European Union Member States after the introduction of the European Union Entry/Exit System”, according to today’s deal. Each member state retains sovereignty over its immigration laws and none is obliged to allow E-gate use to UK Nationals.
As well as job-boosting collaboration in the defence and security industries, a return to greater information sharing and collaboration over border security is expected.
A win-win, as Sir Keir Starmer has claimed? We shall see how the changes bed in over coming weeks and months. Expect some commentary over the limited nature of it all from the EU, and UK opposition accusations of betrayal over Brexit.
A footnote – The US deal
Finally, the recent UK–US trade deal, signed in May 2025, has not introduced significant changes to immigration policies between the two countries. While the agreement includes provisions aimed at easing trade and economic cooperation and had Lord Mandelson applauding for the cameras in the Oval Office, it does not establish any new pathways for permanent migration or alter existing visa systems. Any changes to immigration policy would remain under the jurisdiction of each country's domestic laws and regulations.
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