Brexit: Immigration And Employment Law Implications

On Thursday, 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom will vote in its referendum to determine whether the UK should remain in or leave the European Union. A leave vote could have very wide ranging implications for employers in the Republic of Ireland with UK operations and UK employers with Irish operations. The 2011 Irish Census recorded 46,902 UK nationals living and working in Ireland, while 90,000 Irish nationals are said to have moved to the UK since 2008.

While the full extent of any such implications would depend on subsequent negotiations between the EU and UK or Ireland and the UK, we have set out some of the key issues likely to arise below. The fact that the Republic of Ireland (RoI) and Northern Ireland (NI) would, in a leave scenario, also share an EU/Non-EU border throws up further potential complexities.