Winter is the season when many people want to visit India, to meet families and friends, attend weddings, and spend the holidays together. It is a difficult situation for some British Indians who have not yet procured visas because there are no appointments available. Despite the attempt to salvage the situation by the Indian High Commission, it may have been already too late for some planning to travel to India. According to the UK government, over one million British nationals visited India in 2019. Most visits pre-Covid were trouble-free.
On the other hand, those arriving from India to study at UK universities or completing degrees waiting for results are now facing immeasurable hardships including unavailability of affordable accommodations or tenancies, increasing energy prices as well as the cost-of-living crisis affecting their already frugal or shoestring budgets.
Students at the University of Glasgow have been placed in emergency hotel accommodations in an effort to tackle the housing crisis. At least 70 students have come forward to seek help for homelessness, but the figure is feared to be much higher. Of those, 49 students say they are unhoused with 25 are sofa-surfing. A further 24 attending the University of Glasgow are living in hostels, hotels, temporary spare rooms, or at home. Students have now lodged a formal complaint against the institution for their handling of the accommodation shortage. As a result, the university told them to consider postponing or withdrawing from their studies if they can't find a place to stay, according to a BBC report.
In the meantime, as the UK-India FTA is drawing close and Indian PM Modi is rumoured to visit London this Diwali, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has shown reservations against relaxing immigration rules for India under the trade deal, which is not just putting locals into trouble but is also making students feel targetted.
In an official statement shared with Asian Voice, VFS Global clarified that, “VFS Global manages the non-judgmental and administrative tasks related to visa applications for the sovereign governments we work with, enabling them to focus entirely on the critical assessment task. The company operates in line with the directives of the Embassies/Consulates. Visa appointments, as well as issuance timelines, are entirely at the discretion of the governments.”
However, when the concerns were raised, a source from the Indian High Commission in the UK assured thenewsweekly by saying, “We are trying to rectify visa appointment system and help meet rising demand.”
India has suspended e-visas for UK tourists/visitors, in a lack of reciprocal gesture from the UK government as well as in meeting demands amid the ongoing relationship between the two countries. Asian Voice has learned that some British Indians had to cancel their plans of visiting India in the coming three months, because they could not secure a visa appointment on time.
Sangeeta Waldron, Founder, Serendipity PR & Media will have to, unfortunately, miss the launch of her book in Mumbai. Speaking to Asian Voice Waldron said, “Owing to the new visa application rules from the UK to India, and the time it is taking to issue visas, I was not going to get my visa in time. I had plans to attend the book launch event of my book, Corporate Social Responsibility Is Not Public Relations, in Mumbai, which is to be published by Jaico Publishing for the Indian market in November.”
When it came to the notice of the Indian High Commission in London that people are facing issues in getting visas, the High Commission said that it is investigating reports of unauthorised agents illegally charging fees to get visas processed for travellers to India, amid reports of a severe visa crunch faced by tourists to the country.
The HC also said that it is working on streamlining processes but dismissed claims in sections of the UK media that there had been a sudden visa rule change that had impacted British tourists. It reiterated that individual visa applicants have always been expected to apply in person at the mission's outsourced VFS Global centres in London.
“It has come to our notice that unauthorised agents and individuals are illegally charging fees and collecting India visa applications for submission at VFS Centres, misleading applicants and misrepresenting the services that they can legally provide,” a High Commission statement said.
UK Prime Minister trying to save face?
PM Liz Truss is apparently ‘side-lining Suella Braverman’ to ease foreign worker rules, reports have stated. The Home Secretary is allegedly at loggerheads with her Cabinet colleagues over immigration policy
UK’s Indian-origin Home Secretary, Suella Braverman has said that the largest group of people who overstay in Britain are Indian migrants. Her priority is to cut net migration into the United Kingdom and that according to her was the aim of Brexit as well.
In 2020, 20,706 Indians overstayed their visas, more than any other nationality, according to UK home office records. However, we don’t know if those 20,000 plus people were actually Indian and whether a thorough investigation was carried out to trace their actual home country. They could belong to any South Asian country. In addition, Braverman noted that a deal made with the Indian government in 2021 by her predecessor Priti Patel to promote and enable closer cooperation on visa overstayers had not always been successful.
It is questionable whether the issue of overstayers is to be blamed on India, or the UK’s fragile governance and complacency in acting against such people. She has indicated she would be unhappy with a Free Trade deal with India that makes too many concessions in her opinion on visas, within which India had initially asked for 3000 visas to support its talent pool to work in Britain. Not to forget that the West Midlands is slated to receive the lion's share of benefits from this FTA between India and UK, where little is known about India’s share of benefits.
Braverman’s approach towards immigration and UK-India FTA under scrutiny
Meanwhile, Braverman’s approach towards immigration was heavily scrutinised in an interview with Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator magazine, where he observed: “She (Suella) may face opposition from No 10. Word is that (Liz) Truss wants an ambitious trade deal with India and is prepared to include migration as part of the deal. Braverman doesn’t sound thrilled.”
The Home Secretary said: “I have concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India because I don’t think that’s what people voted for with Brexit.”
Braverman added: “But I do have some reservations. Look at migration in this country – the largest group of people who overstay are Indian migrants. We even reached an agreement with the Indian government last year to encourage and facilitate better cooperation in this regard. It has not necessarily worked very well.”
It is important to note that while Braverman is in-charge of immigration, the task of negotiating a bilateral deal with India is the responsibility of Kim Badenoch, the international trade secretary. Badenoch stated that a post-Brexit trade deal with India will be signed by end of this month but admitted Britain “may not get everything” in the agreement despite hopes of a huge boost for the whisky industry. At the recent Tory party conference in Birmingham, Badenoch told a fringe meeting hosted by the Policy Exchange think tank: “We want something comprehensive, but it has to be right for both countries. But doing a trade deal is not a simple and easy thing. So, what we want to do is something that lifts both countries.”
“It may not be everything that the services sector wants,” she said. “We may not get everything; we’re not doing a unilateral free-for-all deal. But just because we have a free trade agreement it doesn't mean we can’t do even more later, so that’s the message I would send to the services sector.
“There’s a lot of good stuff I think we can get, but the focus has to be on a deal that is good for the UK and India – not any specific, particular sector alone – it’s got to be a good deal for the country in the round.”
Reportedly, Liz Truss said she wants to sign a trade agreement with India by Diwali at the end of this month. The Indian government is demanding an increase in work and study visas for Indian nationals and earlier this year Boris Johnson said the agreement would lead to increased immigration. This is coinciding with the speculations of the arrival of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is likely to visit London this Diwali to close the FTA negotiations. It has been allegedly feared that the arrival of Modi in the present-day scenario may end up triggering the ongoing communal violence in Birmingham-Leicester and other parts of Britain.
Meanwhile, Labour Party Chief Sir Keir Starmer has said that his party is ‘determined to fight Hinduphobia’. (See P18 for full interview).
The UK is known to have never intervened in the internal matters of India. The criticism that Modi undergoes back in India, is not Britain’s business after all. It seems like unreasonable speculation ahead of the potential visit of Modi to scapegoat him for riots that in fact have no direct relation with India per se. There’s enough evidence, appeals by officials and chatter that such riots were triggered by social media menace and not by members of a particular community.
Critiquing Braverman’s attitude towards the deal and visas, Bharat Vaswani, a Higher Education professional told us, “The targeting of international students to meet net migration targets, the Home Secretary very much like her predecessor and subsequent UK PM- overlooks the facts that in the vast majority of cases international students are temporary immigrants. The Oxford Migration Observatory finds that at least 98 per cent of non-EU international students leave the country before their visa expires.”
According to Vaswani, international students in the UK contribute fee revenue to the higher education institution and also contribute to the UK economy through on and off-campus spending. They assist in the much-desired push for economic growth. The London Economics analysis shows that a 2018/19 cohort of international students studying in the UK contributed a net economic benefit of £25.9 billion to the UK’s economy – up 19% from the last time a similar analysis was undertaken in 2015/16.
He added, “International postgraduate students, who are most often allowed to bring dependents, are essential to keeping important but lower-demand courses open for domestic students in key subject areas. International education is becoming very competitive with non-English countries offering a range of English courses and if we don’t make international students welcome to the UK, we are bound to lose market share and hence our competitive advantage. Ultimately, international students bring more to the UK than they are supposedly taking.”
Students ‘feel’ targeted by UK’s hostile immigration system
Indian students come to the UK after fighting many monetary and emotional battles to arrange for the tuition fee and living costs, as well as break generational curses to study abroad and dream of a better future than their ancestors. Many sell their assets back home or take a loan by keeping their homes as mortgages, in hopes of a better future through foreign education.
Reportedly, Home Secretary Suella Braverman has refused to set an immigration target for the next election, expected in 2024 as she pledged to “substantially reduce” the number of foreign students, workers, dependants and low-skilled workers coming to the UK.
It is understood that she wants the wider application of laws under which people would be jailed for up to four years if they enter the UK without permission. She told a Conservative Party fringe event hosted by Chopper’s Politics podcast: “Poor universities are being bankrolled by foreign students.”
Ms Braverman has further stated that in the 12 months to June, 240,000 more people came to the UK than left, 486,000 foreign students arrived, and 330,000 work visas were issued. She claimed that on average, each individual arriving on a study or work visa brings one dependant. Nadhim Zahawi, the Cabinet Office minister, joined Home Secretary, in expressing concern at the number of dependents - as many as six - that foreign students were bringing into the country. The number of dependents that foreign students can bring into the UK could be capped under plans being considered by ministers to tackle “bad migration.”
An Indian student in the UK anonymously agreed to share their story with Asian Voice. Sharing their struggle, the student said that they completed their course in September, and the course programme admin will only confirm the degree towards the end of October.
The student told the newsweekly, “My student accommodation contract ended in August, and I have been looking for housing since. I found a place, but it was after paying the non-refundable holding deposit that I was made aware of the right to rent. My right to rent ends in November 2022, because my leave on my student visa ends on the same date. My university will only confirm my degree at end of October, so I can't even apply for a graduate visa currently.” As most accommodations have a minimum required tenancy of six months minimum, the student is locked out of the market without a possibility of a home from the date of visa expiry and the arrival of subsequent graduate scheme visa.
Dr Partha Kar, Consultant Diabetes and Endocrinology and Director-Equality wrote a moving account of his arrival in the UK in his blog in the British Medical Journal recently. He wrote about how he would scrounge for every penny and do mental maths of currency conversion. “My first few weeks in the UK were, frankly, awful. Not many people would talk to me, which heightened an inherent shyness,” Dr Kar wrote.
He particularly mentioned a low point during the first few days and described that when he went to the mess hall and saw some frozen food in the fridge, it said, “For NHS staff,” so he thought it was ok to take it. “Halfway through the meal, a young English doctor “explained” the rules by screaming them at me, in front of everyone. She ended her education with the words, “Beggars coming to our country.” I walked back to my room, shut my door, and simply cried. A lot,” the Director -Equality wrote in a moving account. He further talked about how in 2022 we still hear of international medical graduates (IMGs) being treated poorly and as cheap labour, being placed on wards where no one else wants to go without educational supervision, mentorship, or even the simple basics—taking a moment to ask how they are or making sure no one takes advantage of their naivety.
