PM Theresa May's flagship immigration reforms have triggered fresh anger from Indians and also Eastern Europeans- where the latter could lead Britons to get work permits for continental jobs. The hope of a better relationship with the Indian immigrants after Brexit, is slowly evaporating into the thin air, as the immigration rules are becoming stricter in an effort by the government to reduce numbers by hundreds and thousands. In fact, the issue of visas had overshadowed Mrs May's three-day visit to India in early November. In her speech at the Tech-Summit in New Delhi she had said, "The UK will consider further improvements to our visa offer if, at the same time, we can step-up the speed and volume of returns of Indians with no right to remain.”
Work Permit changes
Under the new visa rules, by the UK Home Office earlier this month, applications made on or after November 24 under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of £30,000 pounds from the earlier £20,800. This is UK government's effort to curb its soaring immigration figures, which will definitely affect a large number of Indians especially IT professionals. The ICT route is largely used by Indian IT companies in Britain and the UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) had found earlier this year that Indian IT workers accounted for nearly 90 per cent of visas issued under this route.
A UK Home Office statement said, "The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee will affect applications made on or after 24 November unless stated otherwise,"
The other changes include increasing the Tier 2 (General) salary threshold for experienced workers to £25,000 pounds with some exemptions; reducing the Tier 2 (ICT) graduate trainee salary threshold to £23,000 pounds and increasing the number of places to 20 per company per year; and closing the Tier 2 (ICT) skills transfer sub- category.
Indians in EU to be affected too
Nationals outside the European Union including Indians will also be affected by the new English language requirements when applying for settlement as a family member after two and a half years in the UK on a five-year route to residency settlement in the UK.
The new requirement will apply to partners and parents whose current leave to remain in the UK under the family immigration rules is due to expire on or after May 1, 2017.
The changes follow advice by the MAC to curb the Tier 2 ICT route and reduce reliance on foreign workers. The MAC report had said in its findings, "(Immigration) is not serving to increase the incentive to employers to train and upskill the UK workforce. Ready access to a pool of skilled IT professionals in India is an example of this.
"We did not see any substantive evidence of long-standing reciprocal arrangements whereby UK staff are given the opportunity to gain skills, training and experience from working in India," it said.
The new rules follow further tightening of the Tier 2 category which came into force in April this year.
However speaking on BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott rejected calls to reduce immigration to the UK as part of the Brexit negotiations.
Following that, Nusrat Ghani MP, member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “Diane Abbott has demonstrated once again that Labour has no plan and no intention of reducing immigration into our country.
“The Labour Party is totally out of step with people’s concerns and simply does not understand why we need to take action as we leave the European Union.
“It is clear that only the Conservatives can be trusted to make a success of Brexit and deliver the right deal for Britain - and that must mean controls on the number of people that come to our country.”
Affects on EU immigrants
European ambassadors have told the Sunday Telegraph of their hostility towards Home Office's shake up for EU immigrants after Brexit. Details of what ministers are preparing have recently emerged, with different visa rules for sectors of the economy being proposed. While bankers and other high skilloed EU workers could be given free movement- as per Chancellor Philip Hammond's demands, lower-skilled workers would face tighter rules.
One of Eastern European diplomats have said that if Mrs May makes low-skilled migrants from Europe obtain work-permit to move to the UK, it would lead Britons to get a work permit for themselves to move to the continent- which they will find to relocate.
In a separate development, the European parliament's lead Brexit negotiator said Britons could pay to retain the benefits of EU citizenship after officially leaving. Guy Verhofstadt said UK nationals could be allowed to pay an annual fee to Brussles in return for keeping benefits of EU membership.
