Recognition After All: Irish Citizens in Post-Brexit Immigration Law

<div>This article is concerned with the position of Irish citizens in British immigration law, both historically,</div><div>and once the free movement of persons regime ceases. Drawing on legal and archival material, it traces</div><div>the status of Irish citizens in British immigration law since the establishment of the Irish state in 1921-</div><div>1922. Until the early 1960s, Irish citizens were treated as British subjects, or as if they were, and</div><div>therefore benefitted from right to enter and reside in the United Kingdom, and immunity from</div><div>deportation from it. When the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971</div><div>introduced immigration restrictions and deportation for British subjects from the colonies and</div><div>Commonwealth, the policy was to exempt Irish citizens in practice. Although the common travel area</div><div>appears to have been the primary reason for that policy, it was highly controversial at the time, as it</div><div>reinforced the view that that legislation was racially discriminatory. The legacy of that controversy,</div><div>however, was inadequate provision for Irish citizens in immigration law after 1 January 1973,</div><div>something which was masked by the availability of EU free movement rights as an alternative. These</div><div>inadequacies are being addressed as the free movement of persons regime ceases, through an</div><div>exemption from requirements to obtain leave to enter and remain in the Immigration and Social</div><div>Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill. It is linked to the wider normalisation of the two states’</div><div>relationship, which has enabled full recognition of the established patterns of migration and mobility</div><div>between them.</div>