What would be the legal status of those living in Scotland after - TopicsExpress

What would be the legal status of those living in Scotland after independence. As a new state, Scotland would have responsibility for setting its own immigration policy. But if it wished to retain the Common Travel Area it would in practice have to adopt the same immigration policies as the continuing UK, or else invest significantly in enforcement of something akin to Canadian- or Australian-style regional-level migration policy-making (see the Migration Observatory policy primer Sub-National Immigration Policy: Can it Work in the UK?). Otherwise migrants would simply enter on whatever side of the border were easiest and relocate across it. This could also serve as a constraint on the extent to which Scotland could offer citizenship to, for example, the descendants of the Scottish diaspora. An approach similar to that of the Republic of Ireland would presumably be uncontentious (after all, most of those allowed citizenship under it would probably be in England) but anything more open might require a negotiation with the UK. An independent Scotland would obviously have responsibility for dealing with illegal immigrants and would be able to choose how they were treated, including the processes leading up to deportation. Again, if the Common Travel Area were maintained, the practical scope to operate more generous policies than England would be limited as the incentive for illegal migrants to cross the border would be high. The overall conclusion is that if Scotland were a separate, independent state it would have legal power over migration and citizenship issues, but in practice its scope to diverge from EU and UK rules and approaches would be greatly constrained in practical and political terms.