A DIFFERENTIATED immigration system for Scotland is not a unique idea and there are numerous examples throughout the world of how this can work.

From the cultural differences in Canada – where 20 per cent of the population (7.2 million) has French as their first language – to the 6500 islands and skerries that make up the autonomous Åland Islands in Finland, there are more than 40 differentiated immigration systems in the world.

READ THE MAIN ARTICLE: Scotland depends on immigration – that's why we need a different system

So what are these systems and how do they work?

The National:

Canada
Two alternative systems operate within the national framework.

The Quebec Government has excessive responsibility over the immigration selection criteria to respect their “distinct identity”.

Several other provinces can also use their own selection criteria.

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Spain
Catalonia has the authority to issue and renew work visas for wage-earners and self-employed workers, while in the Basque Country there are powers to address the issue of seasonal work.

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Finland
Greater control has been devolved to the Åland Government by giving them discretionary powers to deny applications for Åland Citizenship for “persuasive reasons” or in granting applications “for special reasons”, given their specific remote rural requirements.

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Switzerland
In Switzerland, where they have one of the highest levels of resident immigrants in the world (with almost a quarter of their eight million population born outside the country), there are 26 bespoke systems within their multilingual autonomous cantons.

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Australia
There is Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme which offers skilled and working holiday visas which meet the diverse requirements of their seven regions.