Immigration Policy Can’t Be Politics. It's All Economics

For many in Britain, immigration is no longer a theoretical debate. It is felt in the minimum four-hour A&E wait that stretches into eight, patients continue to wait for & in ambulances, corridors convert into wards, the wait time for tests and procedures is now counted in months and years, and the housing list never seems to move. People struggle to find care for an ageing parent. These pressures are not imagined and deserve serious response, not slogans.When US announced it would suspend certain immigrant visa routes while strengthening economic screening, it was widely framed as an ideological move. But the underlying message may have been simpler – it was a fiscal decision. A country under strain must be honest about what it can sustain.That lesson should resonate in Britain. Britain can no longer afford wishful thinking on immigration. US’s move was not a blanket shutdown. State department’s suspension applies to 75 countries, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, jurisdictions from the Indian subcontinent where data suggests higher reliance on public assistance among recent entrants. India Is not on the list. Indian migration to US is employment-led, especially in skilled sectors, with high workforce participation and tax contribution. The policy is not about stopping migration, but prioritising contribution.Britain faces similar choices, even if it rarely concedes the point. Net migration has eased from recent highs, yet

public services

remain under intense pressure. NHS continues to operate beyond safe capacity, with workforce shortages and delayed discharges now structural problems. Housing supply has lagged population growth for years, driving rents higher and stretching social housing to breaking point. Social care remains fragile, heavily dependent on overseas workers, even as visa routes are tightened without a credible domestic alternative. Meanwhile, the elderly face mounting hardship as govt support thins: access to home care and community services is increasingly limited, waiting times for essential care are growing, and many are forced to rely on family or private provision at escalating personal cost.Concerns have also grown over winter support, with changes to the Winter Fuel Payment in recent years creating uncertainty and leaving some older people, particularly those not claiming Pension Credit, at risk of struggling to afford heating in the coldest months.At the same time, sectors such as agriculture, food processing and healthcare still rely on migrant labour to function at all. The result is a system that satisfies neither voters nor employers and is open enough to feel uncontrolled, but restricted enough to cause real shortages.The answer is not to shut the door. It is to manage it properly.A credible

immigration policy

should begin with a basic test of economic self-sufficiency. That means verified job offers, realistic earnings, credible savings, or employer guarantees. These reduce immediate reliance on public funds. This is not a judgment about culture or character. It is an acknowledgement of arithmetic. A state struggling to fund health, housing and care cannot ignore whether new arrivals are likely to contribute more than they consume, at least in the early years.Flexibility, however, remains essential. Britain will continue to need overseas workers in specific sectors, sometimes urgently. Temporary, sector-specific visas can meet those needs, but only if they are clearly defined, time-limited and reviewed regularly. Where shortages ease, routes should narrow automatically. Immigration levels should respond to capacity, not habit.A practical framework would combine entry requirements with targeted flexibility: migrants arriving with confirmed employment or financial backing; visas designed around genuine labour shortages; regular reviews triggered by data on benefit uptake and service pressure; safeguards for critical sectors like health and social care linked to retention and training; and fewer automatic routes to permanent settlement where long-term contribution is uncertain.America’s visa pause is not a model Britain should copy. But it does underline a principle UK has avoided: immigration policy is economic policy. If Britain wants to remain open without being overstretched, it needs a system that adapts to real-world pressures.The writer is a UK-based financial crime prevention and counter-terrorism professional