Ministers have raised the cap on the number of young Europeans who can live, work and study in the UK to between 75,000 and 80,000 a year, The Sunday Times reports, in an effort to unlock a deal before a summit later this month.

Under the proposed youth mobility scheme, 18 to 30-year-olds would be able to travel to the UK for up to three years. The proposed annual cap is significantly higher than the figure of 50,000 previously offered by the UK's negotiators, while the EU continues to push for 100,000, with an expectation that the UK may be forced to make further concessions to secure a deal.

What else is on the table

Youth mobility remains a significant obstacle to reaching a deal with the bloc before a UK-EU summit on 20 November, when the government hopes to announce agreements on youth mobility, removing border checks on food and drink exports, and emissions trading. Negotiators are also still working on agreements covering work visas for British citizens, which individual EU member states control, and tuition fees for EU students studying in the UK.

Negotiators also hope to agree wording on lower tuition fees for EU students, to be formalised within six months.

Not agreed yet

Nothing in the reported proposal is yet a settled scheme: the cap, the length of stay and the fee arrangements are all still under negotiation, and the government has not published final rules. Anyone planning around a future scheme should wait for an official announcement and check the GOV.UK pages for youth mobility and visas before making travel or work plans.

This article is general information about a reported negotiation, not personal immigration advice.