June 25, 2018
He said, Indians who study here leave with a very positive attitude.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has stated that he will continue to lobby UK Govt. to change its rules around immigration as he branded the exclusion of Indians from an easier student visa application regime as “offensive” & a “wasted opportunity”.
Dismissing UK govt. claims over visa over-stayers from India, Khan said that the evidence didn't back up the concerns.
“To link the two, illegal immigration & students is deeply offensive & also muddies the waters. This hostile environment (to immigration) is still here & we need real concrete evidence that it'll change,” Mayor Khan said on the sidelines of the UK-India Awards in London on Friday.
“There isn’t a problem about students overstaying.. All the evidence shows that Indians who study here leave with a very positive attitude. So when they become chief executives or investors, they invest in the United Kingdom,” he said.
Senior Labour party Leader challenged the Theresa May-led Conservative party government’s “blind spot”, which fails to take into account the benefits of immigration to Britain.
He warned,“I feel this government is being very complacent about Indian investment. They assume it will always be here. My message to the government is no; these talented people can go elsewhere”.
Mayor Khan added that he would continue to lobby the government to change rules, not just for tourists and students but also for Bollywood because film producers are now going to other parts of Europe as filming in London becomes far more difficult because of visa restrictions and the high cost of visitor visas.
Khan stated that, “As we leave the European Union (EU), we need to use this opportunity to build better links with countries outside the EU. We must realise Indians are equal partners, we mustn’t talk down to them. It’s a competition to attract talented Indians and we have got to be competing”.
His intervention comes as UK Government seemed to indicate a softening of its stance over the issue of visas.
UK Foreign Office Minister Mark Field told audience of senior business and political leaders at the UK-India Awards that the government was determined to make the changes necessary and it was just a matter of time before these become visible.
Field who is also Minister of State in charge of India in the Foreign Office added that,“I think all of us realise that there has to be a change in the visa system. I will just say that these things do take a little bit of time and I think we are making some progress in that area”.
His comments come in the wake of brewing India-UK tensions since last week when UK Home Office unveiled new reforms to its Tier 4 student visa system, adding countries like China, Serbia and the Maldives to an expanded list from where overseas students could access a more streamlined university application process.
But India was conspicuous by its absence on that list, leading to an outcry among student groups and other senior leaders.
Source HT
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