India wants the UK to roll back the immigration barriers put in place over the last two years that have affected free movement of professionals to the country and hit service exports.
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who will meet senior UK ministers on Monday and Tuesday, will seek concrete action from the country to sort out visa problems being faced by Indian companies based in the UK, a Commerce Department official told Business Line .
Salary thresholds
The recent relaxation in some of the visa rules by the UK favour highly-paid senior executives and does not serve India’s purpose, the official added.
There are 700 Indian companies in the UK, including HCL, Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Wockhardt, ICICI Bank, United Phosphorous Ltd, Thermax Ltd and Sundram Fasteners.
“The UK Government has not paid heed to any of our concerns related to movement of professionals so far. The Minister will emphasise that there is a need for the UK to differentiate between temporary movement of professionals and immigration,” the official said.
The David Cameron Government has been putting in place stringent visa rules since late 2010 to check immigration in the backdrop of the global slowdown and job loss in the country.
It has set the annual cap for skilled workers coming into the UK at 20,700, raised the salary threshold for intra-company transfers (ICTs) to £40,000, for over a one-year stay but up to a maximum of five years, and to £24,000 for those with visas of less than one year . The UK Government later relaxed the maximum duration stay limit for workers with salaries over £1,50,000 annually, which has not helped India much because of the high threshold.
The Indian industry has already represented to the UK Government against the visa rule changes early this month. CII President and Infosys chief Kris Gopalakrishnan reportedly pointed out to the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skill, Vince Cable, that the immigration policy was making it difficult for Indian companies to grow in the UK.
“The visa stipulations have added to the cost of doing business in the UK and have adversely affected the competitiveness of Indian companies. We want the country to reduce the salary thresholds and also relax the caps,” the official said.
Reduced access
As per figures released by the UK Government, India’s service exports to the UK fell for the first time in 2011 by one per cent while the UK’s service exports to India increased 24 per cent.
Sharma is scheduled to meet the UK’s Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Stephen Green, Minister for Government Policy Oliver Letwin, Secretary of State Vince Cable and Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change Gregory Barker in London and Belfast.