Tougher UK visa rules for Indian IT professionals
On Nov 12, 2009, the British PM Gordon Brown outlined plans to tighten the UK immigration rules in the coming months, and here you go:
According to the official sources report on Dec. 10, 2009, Britain will tighten the immigration rules for Indian IT professionals seeking to migrate to the UK under inter-company transfers. This tougher rule will take effect from January, 2010.
From next year, workers in this category – inter-company transfers – will need to have 12 months experience. At present, the professionals in this category only need 6 months with their employer before they can be transferred to UK.
Also, the immigration category will be closed as a route to permanent settlement in the England.
What this means is quite simple: IT professionals who come to England under inter-company transfer rule will not be allowed to settle permanently even after the mandatory stay of five years, as in the past.
Immigration officials denied reports that the Tier 2 – Intra company transfer – category of the points-based system was providing a loophole for Indian IT companies to bring foreign workers into the country.
An employer can fill vacancies in its UK operations by bringing across some of its existing foreign-based staff, Under an intra-company transfer. Many experts and alike have claimed in the past that this loop-ho0le enables jobs in the IT (as well as in other sectors) to be filled by the immigrants who are paid less than the resident workers.
The Home Office, however, said that this claim or speculation was not true.
According to the Home Office, workers coming to the UK in the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category must be paid the same going rate.
So, UK continues to deliver on the promise from the British PM Gordon Brown last month, outlined plans to tighten the UK immigration rules.
Sources of this news story: The Times of India, and The Economic Times
