It’s going to be a lot tougher to get UK Visas for Indians, especially techies now on

For Indian IT professionals who have been planning to go UK for a job or have been posted there through their Indian companies, things aren’t going to be easy now onwards as the UK government, in an attempt to lessen the number of immigrants, has announced some changes in its visa policy for non-EU nationals.

According to the new rules announced by the UK Home Office, minimum salary threshold of 30,000 pounds is to be met by anyone who is applying after November 24th under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category. Earlier, the minimum salary limit was 20,800 pounds.

"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 November 24 unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.

According to UK’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), 90% of the visas issued under ICT were that of Indian IT workers.

The other changes announced included the increase of the Tier 2 salary threshold for experience workers to 25,000 pounds, reduction of Tier 2 graduate trainee salary limit to 23,000 pounds, increment of 20 vacancies per company annually and closing of the Tier 2 skill transfer sub category. Many changes regarding the Tier 4 category were also announced and mainly included maintenance requirements for the Doctorate Extension Scheme.

These new requirements will affect nationals outside the European Union, including Indians, the most, when applying for settlement for family members after two and a half years in the UK on a five-year route to residency settlement in the UK.

The changes follow advice by the MAC earlier this year to curb the Tier 2 ICT route and reduce reliance on foreign workers.

"(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," the MAC report had said in its findings.

"We did not see any substantive evidence of long-standing reciprocal arrangements whereby UK staffs are given the opportunity to gain skills, training and experience from working in India," it noted.

MAC also added that the MNCs with presence in India have developed a delivery model, and has developed a competitive advantage in delivering IT projects in the UK.

"They have developed a delivery model, whereby significant elements of projects are delivered offshore in India, taking advantage of the fact that Indian salaries are lower than in the UK for equivalent workers.

The new rules follow further tightening of the Tier 2 category, which came into force in April this year.

"The UK government s reforms to Tier 2 work visas are intended to ensure that businesses are able to attract the skilled people they need, but also see that they get far better at recruiting and training UK workers first," then UK Immigration minister James Brokenshire had said.
(image: Indiatimes)