EU citizens will not be subject to immigration checks at the border, a new report has said.
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report said workplaces check whether an EU citizen has the right to be employed in the UK.
It said that any new restrictions can be enforced at the workplace rather than the border.
"It is the flow of goods and services, not people, that makes the border issue challenging," according to the report.
It found that Northern Ireland's manufacturing sector was more reliant on migrant labour than firms in Britain. Migrants are employed in 19 per cent of manufacturing jobs compared to 11 per cent in England.
The report warned that differences in customs arrangements or regulatory standards pose a "much more serious problem" than restrictions on rights to work after Brexit.
It notes an assumption that the Common Travel Area (CTA) between the Republic and UK will continue after Brexit.
The CTA, which the British government has said it is committed to retaining, allows British and Irish citizens the right to travel to and work in each other's jurisdictions.
However, the report said working and living rights may "not necessarily extend" to other EU citizens. It found some people may have the right to reside and work in the Republic but not the north.
