This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The government should expand the number of countries whose citizens are eligible to apply for a working holiday visa to the UK, a Conservative thinktank has said.

The tier-5 youth mobility visa allows people aged 18-30 to live, work or study in the UK for two years. It is open only to applicants from Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

Bright Blue, the liberal conservative thinktank, said Theresa May’s immigration policies undermined her vision of a “global Britain”, and an expansion of the programme would help achieve this goal.

The government’s “hostile environment” immigration policies, introduced by May when she was home secretary, are under scrutiny in the wake of the Windrush scandal. It has faced calls to liberalise immigration policy following the damaging revelations.

Ryan Shorthouse, Bright Blue’s director, said: “One of the best ways of achieving a ‘global Britain’ is by enabling talented people from around the world to live, work, invest and study in this country. And, of course, for Britons to be able to do the same in other countries. This two-way migration strengthens Britain’s economic prosperity and cultural influence.”

The thinktank said the visa should be rebranded as the “citizens of the world visa programme”, in reference to May’s 2016 conference speech, which included the much-derided line: “If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere.”



Bright Blue said the youth mobility visa should be expanded to include Commonwealth countries that met basic human rights conditions, including the abolition of the death penalty, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and women having access to contraception services.

The visas are offered on a reciprocal basis, meaning that the same number of visas are available each year for UK citizens to live, work or study in the partner country. Applicants must prove they have sufficient funding to support themselves in the UK, including £1,890 in savings.

In 2018, there was a cap of 34,000 places for the Australia-UK programme, but 1,000 each for Japan, Monaco, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Bright Blue is hosting a conference on Tuesday, Fighting for Freedom?, which will include a keynote speech from the minister for human rights, Phillip Lee.