Potential merits of a Youth Mobility Scheme between the EU and the UK

The UK has reciprocal youth mobility agreements with 13 countries and territories. The immigration rules describe the scheme as a “cultural exchange programme” enabling young people to experience life in the other jurisdiction.

For those coming to the UK, the scheme simply provides a two-year visa allowing work or study and there is no organised cultural activity – people are free to experience life in the UK on their own terms. The reciprocal offer to British citizens is sometimes described as a ‘working holiday’ visa and places more emphasis on the holiday aspect (for example, Japan).

Criteria for coming to the UK on a youth mobility visa

The main eligibility restrictions for participating countries, except for India, are age limits and annual quotas of visas issued. These are summarised in the table below.

Application numbers from most nationalities are below the quota. Ballots are held if the quota is likely to be oversubscribed. In 2024, there were only ballots for people from Hong Kong, Taiwan and India.

Indians, uniquely, are required to have a degree level qualification. Accordingly, the youth mobility scheme for India is branded differently, as the India Young Professionals Scheme. The visa still falls within the youth mobility category.

Visas last for two years for most nationalities but can be extended for another year by Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders. These nationalities also have the higher age limit of 35. The improved terms were agreed as part of trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, and in a standalone youth mobility deal in the case of Canada.

While the visas themselves are strictly temporary, the people arriving on them are not necessarily temporary migrants. People are allowed to switch to a visa route that offers long-term residence, such as a Skilled Worker visa, if they can find a sponsor during their two or three year stay.

Uptake of UK youth mobility visas

The youth mobility scheme was introduced in 2008, replacing the working holidaymaker visa. As of 30 September 2024, 312,000 visas had been issued.

The table below shows visas issued over the lifetime of the scheme, by nationality. Half of all recipients have been Australian.

In 2016, a Home Office impact assessment (PDF, table B1) included a figure of £7,600 as the assumed average contribution of youth mobility visa holders to the exchequer in direct and indirect taxes annually. This would represent around £10,000 in today’s prices, accounting for inflation.

Proposals for an EU-UK youth mobility scheme In the UK

There have been calls by politicians, academics and campaign groups for the introduction of an EU-UK youth mobility scheme, which would allow 18-30 year olds to work and/or study in the UK or EU for a set period.

In January 2025, James MacCleary MP (Lib Dem) introduced a ten minute rule bill which would require the government to negotiate the extension of the youth mobility scheme to individual EU countries. argued that an EU-UK scheme would provide “opportunity and hope” for young people as well as “backing British business with the labour force it needs to grow”.

Similarly, the campaign group Best for Britain states that an EU-UK scheme would “facilitate cultural exchange” and “allow for increased flexibility in the labour market”.

In August 2024, polling by More in Common found that 58% of people think that a youth mobility scheme is a good idea, compared with 10% of people who think it is a bad idea.

The Migration Advisory Committee has said that an expanded youth mobility scheme could be beneficial for the labour market:

We have long argued that expanding the YMS to more countries, in particular those located close to the UK with which we already have close links, would be beneficial to sectors with a more fluid labour market such as hospitality. Such schemes also have the advantage of not linking the visa to the employer and so reduce the risks of exploitation which tend to be more prevalent in low-wage employment.

From the EU

The European Commission formally proposed that the EU seek to negotiate a youth mobility scheme with the UK in April 2024. This would enable EU and UK citizens aged between 18 to 30 years to stay for up to four years in the destination country, although various conditions would need to be met. Commentary on the proposal indicated that the European Commission had launched it following UK proposals for bilateral youth mobility deals with some EU Member States and because it wanted to avoid a situation where some member states had youth mobility deals with the UK and others did not.

The European Commission proposal was rejected by the then Conservative government. The then Labour opposition also rejected the proposal and said that youth mobility schemes were “synonymous with freedom of movement”. The Labour government has reiterated that it has no plans for a youth mobility scheme with the EU and will not return to UK-EU freedom of movement.

Reports at the end of 2024 indicated that the EU was seeking to refine the proposal as a youth experience scheme or a cultural enrichment programme. In evidence to the House of Lords European Affairs Committee in December 2024, the Minister for EU Relations Nick Thomas–Symonds said that it was up to the EU to finalise any proposals it wanted to place on the table, and the UK’s response would depend precisely on what was meant by youth mobility. He also reiterated the government’s pledge to bring net migration down.