But recently, there's been a change.

The dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom.

Immigration was one of the key factors driving debate around the U.K.'s referendum on the European Union,

with opponents complaining the EU right to freedom of movement

had caused an influx of migrants in the U.K.

I've been calling today in my remarks for a fair immigration policy.

The U.K. joined what would eventually become the European Union in 1973,

and EU citizens gradually migrated to the U.K. over the coming decades.

But it wasn't until the EU-8, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,

Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, joined the EU in 2004 that those numbers exceeded 100,000 per year.

Bulgaria and Romania's entry in 2007 provided an additional boost.

But those numbers peaked at 269,000 in 2015, the year before the referendum.

In 2016, that trend reversed.

The number of EU immigrants coming to the U.K. dropped off,

despite still having the right to live and work there.

At the same time, non-EU immigrants began to increase.

The fall of the pound made U.K. wages less valuable relative to European wages.

Economist Jonathan Portes researches the changing relationship between the U.K. and EU.

He says a lot of those non-EU immigrants come from South Asian countries

like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Because fewer Europeans are coming here, gaps have opened up that previously

might have been filled by European migration and are now being filled by Indians.

Just look at 2018.

More people from South Asia migrated to the U.K. than from the EU-8.

For some industries, these changes have been really good for business.

But for other business owners, Brexit has really hit them where it hurts.

So, let's go and meet one of them.

That's Abdul Ahad. He's a curry house owner in London.

He says the Brexit Leave campaign has promised he would be able to hire more migrants

from countries like India after the U.K. left the EU.

I was in favour of Brexit because of the promise of helping our industry to employ South Asian chefs.

But so far, those promises haven't come through.

Hospitality businesses all across the country are facing major staffing shortages of low-skilled workers.

It's estimated there will be a recruitment gap of more than 1 million workers by 2029.

And despite the increase in immigrants from South Asia,

they're not helping to fill the gap left behind by EU citizens.

That's because only highly-skilled migrants like doctors, nurses and IT workers

are benefitting from Brexit-related policies.

This is because of a U.K. government policy, which only grants work visas

to non-EU migrants if they earn more than £30,000.

Dr Ramesh Mehta says the National Health Service has reached out to him,

asking for his help in recruiting more Indian doctors.

The reason for that is the way Indian subcontinent doctors are trained is similar to the U.K. system.

Also the medium of instruction is English, which makes Indian doctors a lot more easier to be absorbed.

The U.K. government actually took it one step further in 2018.

It temporarily lifted the cap on the number of visas that were handed to doctors from non-EU countries.

There was no choice for the Home Office.

They need more medical workforce, and the nursing workforce from non-EU countries.

Experts are saying this trend could actually continue.

Currently, EU migrants don't need a visa to work in the U.K.

But in theory, after Brexit they will,

which means that EU and non-EU migrants will be on the same level playing field.

The U.K. government says it will scrap an immigration system that favors nationality

and will create one based on skills.

So now highly-skilled workers from around the world

will be favored over lower-skilled migrants, regardless of nationality.

And while that helps fill some big recruitment gaps in the U.K., that doesn't solve

the problem being faced by Abdul Ahad and others as they prepare for Brexit.

We have a lot of time and money invested into our business and we want to make it better

and we want to plan for the future.

Thank you so much for watching my first video.

Comment below if Brexit has affected you and don't forget to subscribe.

Bye for now!