October 12,2018:

India accounts for largest number of individuals staying in U.K. illegally, and number of those subjected to forced returns to India has fallen by 50% in three years.

Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office highlighted the the problem of “visa overstayers” in its submission to a British Parliamentary Committee’s “Global Britain and India’ inquiry into the post-Brexit relations with India.

Focus on the overstayers is significant, suggesting that there is little sign of change on an issue that has overshadowed the bilateral relationships.

Tensions came to a head earlier this year when Britain’s Trade Secretary Liam Fox linked decision on excluding the Indians from a relaxation of student visa requirements to cooperation between two countries on return of illegal migrants, including India’s failure to sign an MOU with U.K. on the issue during PM Narendra Modi’s visit in April.

Indian High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha in June, questioned Britain’s focus and stance on the overstayers. “I am sure there are many [overstayers] but where did this figure of 100,000 come from?”.

He further added that,"It was “unclear’ how Britain had derived its assessment that 100,000 Indians needed to be repatriated, Chatham House said, noting the figure had recently been lowered to 75,000".

Indian High Commissioner Sinha stated that,“Rather than providing easier access to Indians, the U.K. has threatened to expel many existing immigrants. Combined, this gives the impression that the U.K. is becoming more insular and hostile to foreigners”.

In its submission, the U.K.-India Business Council warned that Britain’s stance on immigration had been characterised in India as a “directly hostile message” that suggested Indian citizens were not welcome to the U.K. any more.

Apex IT body NASSCOM has warned that a restrictive immigration system, limiting the opportunities for global talent, could hit Britain’s Economic growth and Productivity.

Representing India’s IT industry, NASSCOM emphasized on the need to treat movement of the highly-skilled workers, who came to U.K. on a short-term basis under the intra-company transfer scheme, as a trade policy and not an immigration issue.

Royal Commonwealth Society warned that state of Indian visas into U.K. was “abysmal” and reiterated its call for Indian visitors to be given similar conditions as Chinese tourists, who were able to get a two-year multiple entry visa at nearly 75% lower cost than others.

Source Hindu

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