May said that the government will publish the complete policy paper on the new immigration system before proposing immigration legislation next year as a part of Britain’s departure from the EU, Reuters reported.
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“It will be a skills-based system where it is workers’ skills that matter, not where they come from. It will be a system that looks across the globe and attracts the people with the skills we need,” May said Monday during the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham.
May also noted the system would “make sure low skilled immigration is brought down and set the UK on the path to reducing immigration to sustainable levels.”
The new system will also require that those seeking to live and work in Britain meet minimum salary thresholds and ensure they are not competing for jobs that could otherwise be filled by current UK residents. May also said that this will be the first time in a while that Britain will be a country “that controls and chooses who we want to come here.”
Immigration policy was a core issue driving the 2016 referendum on whether the UK should leave the Union. Early last month, PM May pledged that she would end freedom of movement from the EU and secure jobs in the country for Britons.