Chetal Patel, Partner in our Immigration Team, has spoken with Personnel Today following suggestions from the Australian government which appear to rule out a bilateral visa-free immigration agreement with the UK post-Brexit.
Speaking to reporter Adam McCulloch, Chetal identified the negative implications of this news for the government’s Brexit strategy, noting that “although bilateral trade discussions are ongoing, the news that the Australian government has rejected a visa-free arrangement serves as another stark reminder of the challenges the UK faces post-Brexit”.
In light of recent suggestions from government sources that a visa-free system was likely to be introduced, this news, in Chetal’s view, is also “a significant rebuke for the new administration”.
Chetal’s remarks also highlight the many questions which this news suggests need to be answered, including whether this development indicates that “preferential arrangements with certain other nation states will no longer be pursued”.
The rest of Chetal’s remarks on this topic can be found in Personnel Today’s article on this news here.