Amidst outrage over UK excluding India from a list of countries whom are given easier student visa norms, the Theresa May administration has issued the clarification.
According to spokesperson of British High Commission in India, there will be no change in ground situation and Indians will continue to get visa to UK for the purpose of studying. UK government has left India out of a list of 25 countries, including China, from where students can benefit from a more streamlined university application process. This happened as UK after evaluation excluded India from list of 'low risk' countries. 'Low risk' countries are those whose citizens are expected to comply with their visa norms.
HT quoted spokesperson of British High Commission as saying, "“ndian students will experience no change as a result of this announcement – there is no limit on the number of genuine Indian students who can come to study in the UK". Responding to India's exclusion from the list, spokesperson said that review from Home Office found India below the required level.
However, the opposition parties in UK are not exactly happy with this decision and have strongly condemned the Theresa May government for possibly jeopardising relationship with world's largest democracy.
The leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat party, Vince Cable, has blamed British Prime Minister Theresa May's rigidity for India's exclusion from a list of countries offered easier student visa norms. Cable,branded the latest move a "retrograde step" that could damage bilateral relations. "It's a very retrograde step to exclude India from the countries that would benefit from a more liberal visa regime and it demonstrates that government's continued obsession with immigration as an issue," he said.
Britain's Opposition Labour Party called India's exclusion "discriminatory". Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said, "The Government's approach to Indian student visas is discriminatory and counter-productive. This country benefits hugely from the presence of overseas students. "Blocking Indian students risks souring our relations with one of the world's largest and fastest-growing economies. Ministers should be trying to end the hostile environment' policy, instead they seem to be extending it."
YK Sinha, Indian High Commissioner to the UK, also questioned this link between freer mobility of students and professionals with the UK government's claim that there are nearly 100,000 illegal migrants currently in the UK.
"I am sure there are many (visa overstayers) but where did this figure 100,000 come from," he questioned, pointing to the UK Home Office's own analysis from 2016/2017 indicating that 337,180 visas were issued to Indians of which 97 per cent of them went back to India. "Our cooperation with the UK on this subject is very robust. Obviously once they (overstayers) are established to be Indians, they will be taken back. We have made that abundantly clear. But what is important is that we need to move away from this debate," he said.
With PTI inputs
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Visa")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}