The UK announced that Indian and other non-EU professionals will have to return to their countries of origin after their work visa expires instead of being allowed to settle here after working for five years.
The UK today announced that Indian and other non-EU professionals will have to return to their countries of origin after their work visa expires instead of being allowed to settle here after working for five years.
Currently, immigration rules allow non-EU professionals to settle in Britain indefinitely after working for five years.
This provision is likely to be soon scrapped under the David Cameron government's plans to cut immigration.
Setting out several measures the Cameron government had taken since assuming office in 2010, Home Secretary Theresa May said: "Under Labour, temporary immigration led to an automatic right to settle here. So we're breaking that link, making sure that immigrants who come here to work go home at the end of their visa".
Speaking at the Conservative party conference in Manchester, May drew applause as she announced changes to immigration rules that would enable officials to deport foreign nationals who commit crimes in Britain, and seek to stay on using the right to family life under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).
Earlier, Immigration Minister Damian Green reiterated the government's commitment to tighten immigration rules, and cited two examples from Delhi to allege abuse of the visa system for students and workers.
Recalling the annual cap of 21,700 for foreign workers, Green said: "I saw, in our office in Delhi, a man being interviewed for his visa. He said he was coming for a skilled job working on a busy production line making machinery. He needed an interpreter for his visa interview. He would not be safe on a busy, dangerous production line".
Alleging abuse of student visas in India, he said: "We did a study in Delhi last June, and found that more than a third of student applications contained a forged document. We check them, but I am going to make sure that the colleges make their own checks".
Green added: "We will continue to welcome genuine students, coming to study at genuine institutions, some of which are the best in the world. But no longer will we tolerate the abuse of the student visa for people who really want to come here to work — that is going to stop".
Noting the alleged abuse of human rights provisions by foreign criminals to stay on in Britain, May said: "We all know the stories about the Human Rights Act. The violent drug dealer who cannot be sent home because his daughter, for whom he pays no maintenance, lives here.
The robber who cannot be removed because he has a girlfriend. The illegal immigrant who cannot be deported because, and I am not making this up, he had a pet cat".
She added: "This is why I remain of the view that the Human Rights Act needs to go. The Government's Commission is looking at a British Bill of Rights. And I can today announce that we will change the immigration rules to ensure that the misinterpretation of Article Eight of the ECHR, the right to a family life, no longer prevents the deportation of people who shouldn't be here".
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