Thousands of highly skilled migrants working in the UK face deportation as the British Government has defended changes to its visa rules.
LONDON: Thousands of highly skilled migrants working in the UK from non-European countries, including India, face expulsion and deportation as the British Government has strongly defended changes to its immigration and visa rules arguing it is aimed at meeting new challenges and requirements.
Defending changes to rules governing the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) visa rules, Mark Sedwill, director of UK Visas, a joint Home and Foreign Office Directorate said "there will always be changes to immigration rules. It is part of the continuing process to meet new challenges and requirements."
Sedwill said the HSMP would be first of the five-tier system being introduced and those coming under HSMP with two year visa would have to pass an International English Language Test, before getting extension of the visa for two to five years and settle down.
He said there would be an upward revision in the visa fee in April next year. "I don't expect dramatic changes," he said.
On the other hand, the HSMP forum, which is spearheading the challenge against changes in the visa rules affecting 49,000 highly skilled immigrants, including 30,000 from India said "immigrants who have come to UK on Highly Skilled Migrants programme now face deportation as per the new rules imposed by Home Office in November 2006.
Skilled immigrants who have been living in UK since past 2 to 4 years with their families face expulsion.
The HSMP visa holders plight was raised during Prime Minister's question time in Parliament by Martin Horwood, Liberal Democrat MP recently.
His constituent has been affected by last year's changes in the rules for HSMP, which means his visa will not be automatically extended as was promised to him when he made the decision to make the UK his permanent home.
Horwood asked "When will the government stop deporting the wrong people and start deporting the right ones?"
Defending the changes in the immigration rules, Sedwill said "People who come in under the HSMP and fail to meet the criteria of finding work in that sector will be disappointed, but the changes are to maintain the integrity of the system and make sure that they work in the same sector."
Sedwill, whose department runs the UK's visa service through overseas British diplomatic missions, said "We want to make sure that people still regard UK as a welcoming destination."
He said the UK's visa policy had "twin objectives, competitiveness and immigration control" and it was "incontrovertible that immigrants contribute hugely to our economy, 35 per cent of the workforce in the south-east of England is foreign-born."
Sedwill said the UK's changes to work-permit training rules for Indian doctors was the result of a changed scenario.
"Some time ago, there was a campaign to recruit foreign doctors to work in the NHS, but the scenario has changed now. Local medical colleges are producing enough doctors, and there doesn't seem to be the need to recruit doctors from outside the EU."
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