Independence is Good for Business: Talent and Migration

Why Scotland needs to control its own talent strategy

Scotland cannot afford immigration rules made for someone else’s economy. Our current migration system is designed in Westminster, for the politics of England - and without consultation with Scotland’s Government or its people.

The result is predictable for Scotland: staff shortages, stalled growth, and accelerating rural depopulation. If Scotland is to maximise competitiveness and even (in rural Scotland) ensure community survival, we need the power to design a talent strategy that fits our demographic needs, our economic growth plans, and our ambitions.

Clearly not all immigration is good and there is a global problem with the mass movement of people. This is something politicians have to deal with sensibly - the suggestion by Reform that they can simply send asylum seekers “back” is playground politics. All European countries are experiencing a flow of refugees and asylum seekers, which has complex causes (some of which are the fault of the global north’s economic and military policies) and is not likely to be solved anytime soon. But this is a different issue from the talent strategy that any developed economy requires. 

Four ways Westminster places a growth cap on Scotland

Scotland’s population is older than England and ageing faster for generations. Westminster's  London centric economic policies have pulled young people, wealth and opportunity from Scotland and so an aging population is inevitable. Deaths now outnumber births by a record margin - last year Scotland had the lowest number of babies born since records began in 1855; population growth is driven by migration. 

That makes people the binding constraint on sustainable growth. When hospitals, care homes, farms, hotels, and startups can’t hire, services close, waiting lists grow, and investment is deferred. You can see it from the Hebrides to the Central Belt: cafés shut on Sundays; no lunch service in hotels, wards running short; tech firms shelving product roadmaps because they can’t secure a specialist.

Here are four ways Westminster is using the levers of power to slam on the economic brakes for Scotland

1 Salary thresholds for Skilled Worker visas are set for London wages. The minimum salary is now just under £40,000 for hospitality, creative industries, and even entry-level professionals (a trainee solicitor in Scotland often earns £23k–£26k). Layer on soaring fees, surcharges and sponsorship costs - easily running to eye-watering sums for a worker with a partner and children - and the pipeline closes. That’s not a labour market “reset”; it’s a growth cap.

The aim of this policy is simple - to grovel to the red top tabloids and the populist politicians. The UK government is deliberately setting out to half the annual number of skilled worker visas from 90,000 to 45,000. Scottish businesses will feel the smack of this first.  

2 - It is blocking universities, the seedbeds of talent. International students and staff sustain Scotland’s research base and regional economies. Instead of nurturing that asset, Westminster now proposes a levy on international fee income, pushing up prices and undermining competitiveness. It is perverse to tax the very inflow of skills and spending that keeps labs open and towns lively. Westminster also pushed through a Brexit that Scotland didn't vote for. Scotland punched above its weight in attracting European funding; it was involved in many cross-EU partnerships; Scottish students and academics who studied and worked abroad made important links. It is now much harder to do any of these things thanks to Westminster slamming the door in Scotland’s face. 

3 - Social care workers can’t bring their families - or put down roots. Scotland’s age profile means we need more carers now, not fewer. Yet UK rules have abruptly removed family routes for care workers, making it harder for rural homes to recruit the very people who might have settled, enrolled children in local schools, and stabilised fragile communities. The message to would-be carers is mixed at best: come and help us - but not with your kids.

4 - Seasonal work tells the same story. Before Brexit, freedom of movement matched Scotland’s seasonality: pickers and waiting staff came for the summer then returned home. Today, a narrow, UK-wide seasonal visa cap forces Scottish farms and Highland hotels to compete with large English employers on pay and admin costs they simply can’t match. Fields go unpicked; rooms go unmade; visitors go elsewhere.

What would a Scottish system do differently? Independence would let us build a predictable, responsive framework with clear economic goals—population stabilisation, productivity, and regional renewal—and the tools to deliver it.

• Scottish Salary Calibration. Set visa pay thresholds that reflect Scottish wage distributions, with sector-specific rates for genuine shortages. Stop pricing out growth sectors by benchmarking to London.
  
  
• Fair, Family-Friendly Fees. Cut or waive the NHS surcharge in shortage roles; cap total visa fees; offer multi-year permits that reduce churn. If we want people to put down roots, stop penalising them for having families.
  
  
• Targeted Work Routes.
  
  
  • A Health & Care Visa with day-one family rights, funded training ladders, and fast-track residence after sustained service.
    
    
  • A Seasonal Agriculture Visa sized to Scottish demand, issued early, with fair housing standards and enforceable worker protections.
    
    
  • A Highlands & Islands Hospitality Visa for peak months, linked to accredited employers and local accommodation, so businesses can open seven days a week.
    
    
  • A Tech & Growth Visa for startups and scaleups, covering niche skills and founders, with rapid processing and a path to settlement for those who create jobs.
    
    
• Pro-Rural Settlement Incentives. Prioritise applications to depopulating areas; offer relocation grants, rental guarantees, or council-tax relief; tie visas to community welcome schemes and guaranteed school places.
  
  
• Post-Study Work—Back for Good. Revive and modernise Scotland’s old Fresh Talent initiative: a two-to-three-year post-study visa for graduates of Scottish institutions, convertible to permanent residence through sustained work anywhere in Scotland.
  
  
• Recognition & Support. Fund fast recognition of overseas qualifications, English-language provision tied to workplaces, and community sponsorship models that help families integrate quickly.
  
  

This isn't a theory. Other countries like Canada and Australia allow migration to be devolved - Quebec passes a list of skilled workers to the equivalent of the Home Office for Quebec visas. 

But Westminster politicians only sneer at this idea - they stupidly believe that talented professionals on Scottish visas would abandon a secure job with access to health care and education to work illegally in the black economy in England.

Instead, Westminster offers tinkering - perhaps a Scottish seat on a UK committee, perhaps a pilot - while rejecting a distinct Scottish route. 

Who benefits from the current one-size-fits-England policy? Not Scottish firms that need a robotics engineer at £35k, or a solicitor trainee, or a theatre lighting designer. Care homes in the Western or Northern Isles are desperate for staff who can bring children, stabilise school rolls, and keep the local shop open. Not farmers who need pickers when the crop is ready, not when Whitehall’s quota allows. And not universities already cross-subsidising research and home students from international fees.

A Scottish migration system - stable, family-friendly, and tuned to reality - would pay for itself many times over. More workers mean more tax revenue to fund the NHS and schools; more families mean fuller classrooms and safer services; more founders and graduates mean higher productivity and better wages. Growth is people. Without the power to attract and keep the people we need, every other economic promise is a wish.

Independence is not a slogan here; it is a practical tool. With it, Scotland can set the rules, fill the shifts, keep the surgeries open, pick the harvest, build the products, and bring life back to towns that are now losing it. The choice is stark: continue with a migration policy written for another country’s politics, or take responsibility for a talent strategy that keeps businesses competitive and communities thriving.

Support the work of Business for Scotland and Believe in Scotland and our independence campaign – Join us! Only a non-party-political independence campaign can move independence support to the levels we need to win our independence.