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QUESTION NO.2567 DENIAL OF SKILLED VISA TO BRITAIN

August 09, 2018

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2567
TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.08.2018

DENIAL OF SKILLED VISA TO BRITAIN

2567. SHRIMATI VIJILA SATHYANANTH:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) whether Indian engineers, IT professionals, doctors and teachers were denied skilled Visas to United Kingdom;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Indians are likely to be hit hardest by the U.K. annual visa cap; and

(d) if so, the steps taken by Government in this regard?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
[GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

(a) & (b) No. However, since 2011, the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has been maintaining an annual cap of 20,700 visas in Tier-2 category for professionals. The Tier 2 visa is the main UK visa route for skilled workers wanting to take up employment in the UK.

(c) & (d) The cap on the total number of skilled visas that could be issued by the UK government under the Tier-2 visa category did affect the prospects of qualifying for the said visa by skilled workers / professionals of a number of countries, including India. The Tier-2 cap is part of UK’s approach towards controlling migration.

However, in June 2018, the UK Government removed Doctors and Nurses from the annual cap of 20,700 visas under the Tier-2 category. This would mean that an unrestricted number of foreign doctors and nurses, including from India, can enter the UK for employment purposes. Previously, 40% of all Tier-2 UK visas were issued to Doctors and Nurses. Since, there is no cap on entry of Doctors and Nurses, the 40% freed-up slots will now be used for other categories of workers / skilled professionals.

The issue of visas is regularly discussed with the UK Government not only through the established institutional mechanisms at the level of MoS (Home Affairs) and Secretary (Home Affairs), but also during all bilateral discussions at various levels.

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