India will convey its concerns to the UK authorities about the new British immigration law which will impact professionals earning below £35,000 annually.
India will convey its concerns to the UK authorities about the new British immigration law which will impact professionals earning below £35,000 annually.
Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said “we will take it (new UK visa law) up” with the British authorities.
According to the new rule, which will come into effect from April, professionals living and working in Britain on a Tier-2 visa, who earn less than £35,000 a year at the end of five years of their stay in the country could be deported.
In an interview to PTI, she said that India has taken up similar issues concerning visa rules of the US government at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). “We have challenged (the US) in the WTO... We have challen-ged one, so the principle applies for anybody else,” Ms Sitharaman said.
Indian professionals are also facing visa related challenges in other countries, including the US. India has dragged the US to the WTO over its decision to impose high fees on temporary working visas.
Indian professionals have formed the largest category of individuals issued such visas by the UK over the years.
According to the UK’s Office of National Stat-istics, of the 55,589 Tier-2 sponsored visa applications cleared in 2014-2015, nearly 78 per cent were for Indians (31,058).
Thousands of Indians in the UK may get hit by this new law. The exact figure of those affected by the salary threshold requirements remains uncertain but it is estimated to be between 30,000 and 40,000 workers.
