How the creative industries will be impacted under the UK’s EU settlement scheme & immigration plan
Last week, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced plans for a hard line points-based immigration system to come into effect once the UK officially leaves the EU. This will be for all non-UK citizens looking to move to the country, and has been much criticised for its exclusivity, with the Home Secretary (who is of Ugandan Asian descent) admitting that her own parents would not have been allowed to settle in the country under her requirements.
For EU residents already in the UK, there is the ‘EU Settlement Scheme’, granting individuals either ‘pre-settlement’ or ‘settled’ status. The pre-settlement application is for individuals who have not yet lived in the UK for five years, and the settled application is for those who have been here for five years or more.
Both the immigration plan and the settlement scheme are expected to affect UK industries in as-yet unforeseen ways, with many thinking the requirements of earning more than £25,600.00 per annum, having a PHD in a STEM subject, or being a professional in something the UK has a ‘shortage’ of are a direct attack on the creative industries, which are often made up of freelancers working for much less than the sum mentioned, yet still acquire PHDs and have successful careers that this system might not consider there to ever be a ‘shortage’ of.
Ana Rosario, a recent MA graduate from University of the Arts London is originally from Portugal. She tells me that she recently had her pre-settlement leave to remain approved, something which took ‘a month and a half’ to come through. She says that she had friends who were approved the day after they applied, and she isn’t sure why hers took longer. When I ask her whether she thought the process was difficult, she explains that there is a specific app from the British government that you have to use to access the scheme, but that this app ‘doesn’t work on all phones, and [her] phone wasn’t compatible’, forcing her to use a friend’s.
Rosario, who is hoping to start a career as a music journalist, admits she was ‘a little bit scared about the new points system’, because she knows she is unlikely to receive points from a shortage in jobs, as there are plenty of British citizens also hoping to go into her chosen career path. ‘I will never be a priority in that sense’, she says. She ‘isn’t sure’ whether she will even have to adhere to the points system once her pre-settlement status expires, but in this case, she ‘will not be able to freelance’, and will be instead forced into a permanent role, paying above the £25,600.00 threshold.
Dominika Fleszar, a Polish MA student also hoping for a career in journalism agrees. ‘The points-based system is absolutely horrible. It literally marginalises everyone, except STEM professionals… the creative industries are especially vulnerable, as jobs are often unstable and any long-term employment is seen as success.’
Elena Dragan is a 28-year-old personal assistant from Onesti, Romania. She came to the UK 10 years ago as an au pair, and quickly found a job working with the family who she now assists in a professional capacity. A dedicated follower of fashion and sometimes stylist, Elena did not need an NI number until she had been in the UK for several years, as she was not earning enough to have to pay taxes whilst living with her host family.
She tells me that currently she is involved in some back-and-forth with the EU Settlement Scheme, due to her not having a record of an NI number from the first year she was here (you have to provide these details as a step in the app), she is not able to proceed with her application. ‘There’s no fault there, it’s just that they don’t have an option,’ she says. ‘It’s not illegal to be an au pair for as long as I was, it’s just that I can’t move forward because I didn’t have a job that kept records against an insurance number.’
We then move to discuss the fashion industry, something which Dragan thinks will be gravely affected under the new plans. ‘[The UK fashion industry] already includes the EU,’ she begins. ‘It’s not going to be diverse enough, if it’s just the UK on its own’. She explains that whilst those with established careers will continue to work in/with the UK, she ‘doesn’t know if people would be bothered to get a visa when they can do the same thing in another country that won’t charge them for anything. Everyone favours an easy way’.
I ask her if maybe this could lead to an opening for another city to take over London’s fashionable reputation, and suggest the Romanian capital of Bucharest. ‘Bucharest has had a strong fashion industry for a while,’ she says. ‘I always thought it never could grow as much as the UK because everyone chooses the ‘best’ place to go and study or work. Romania has fashion designers that have presented their collections here and in New York, and after 10 years of having shows abroad, they started having shows back home as well. And I feel like now they focus more on their own, rather than focusing on the UK, who doesn’t open doors in welcoming like it used to.’
