The City of London financial district has proposed a system of ‘regional visas’ to allow banks, agriculture and healthcare to hire foreign staff after Britain leaves the European Union.

The City’s municipal authority published a report produced by consultants PwC yesterday outlining how UK immigration policy could be developed so that visas for non-UK nationals could be tailored to meet the needs of local business.

“If the current visa system were extended to EU migrants, research suggests that three-quarters of the UK’s EU workforce would not meet these requirements,” the City of London said in the report.

The report proposes two possible models – regional visas that would be governed jointly by local authorities and business, and another that would be governed by a UK government agency.

“This is not a London solution to a national problem but actually something that can support growth outside of the capital across a wide variety of sectors,” City of London policy chief Mark Boleat said.

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