Boris Johnson attended a summit with more than two dozen African leaders - the topic of his speech was how valuable the UK would be to Africa as a trading partner. But historically and anecdotally, the Home Office and the Immigration Rules have never been applied fairly to those who live or work on the world's second largest continent.
But this change in rhetoric could be significant. The tone is no longer 'closed borders', 'immigration control' or even the rather meaningless 'attract the best of the best'. Instead we are treated to a speech which talks of transparency, change and the principle of equality.
If accurate then this can only be welcome news to those booming businesses in Africa looking for new markets in which to sell their wares. Recent reports have shown that Africa is the second fastest growing economy and this new found wealth may want to diversify onto other shores.
We will have to wait and see what options exist in our future immigration system (due to launch in January 2021) for the rising High-Net-Worth individuals of Africa.
Boris Johnson has promised that the UK’s new immigration policy will put “people before passports” as he used his first set-piece speech of 2020 to extol the benefits of trade with post-Brexit Britain to a major gathering of African leaders. Addressing more than two dozen African presidents and prime ministers in an opening speech to the UK-Africa investment summit in London on Monday, the prime minister said the UK was the “ultimate one-stop shop” for trade, education and tech. “Look around the world today and you will swiftly see that the UK is not only the obvious partner of choice, we’re also very much the partner of today, of tomorrow and decades to come,” he said in a speech focusing more on general entreaties than specific policy ideas.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/20/brexit-uk-immigration-will-put-people-before-passports-johnson-tells-african-leaders
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