As per a data available, skilled engineers, IT specialists, doctors and teachers from India are among the 6,080 qualified workers holding a UK employment offer who were refused visas to the UK since December 2017, even as this allegedly shows that the candidates from India are expected to suffer the most by the nation’s yearly visa limit.
The latest numbers show Indians as the biggest mass of Skilled Work Visas given (57%) to the people from outside the European Union (EU), and this, as mentioned before, specifies that the visa cap is expected to hit the Indian aspirants the hardest.
Allegedly, Science, Engineering and Technology have long gained from the mobility of talent & collaboration across borders, comprising between India and the UK. The numbers available from the UK Home Office reveal that presently the British Immigration structure is hindering this goal.
Even as there is no nationality-wise breakdown of the 6,080 visa denials under the Tier 2 category, from December 2017 to March 2018, it has reportedly surfaced that over 50% (3,500) were for the Engineering, IT, technology, medical and teaching responsibilities.
The limit under the Tier 2 Visa class, to enable firms to bring in professionals from outside the EU, is fixed at 20,700 every year, with a monthly cap of approximately 1,600. Despite the fact that until December 2017, that cap had been surpassed just one time in nearly six years, since then that limit has been broken roughly every month.
Reportedly, a concerned person from the British Medical Association Council (BMA) has urged for a more flexible immigration structure under which the doctors badly required to fill staff scarcities in the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) are not denied entrance to the nation.
Even though the Tier 2 Visa quota has been hit for the fifth consecutive month, over 100,000 NHS posts continue to be vacant, with rates of vacancy jumping. Allegedly, at a time when the NHS is under massive pressure and finding it pretty difficult to fill the large number of openings, the present visa curbs and illogical caps for non-EU workers entering the country are unfathomable and seriously compromising safety & patient care.
Sometime before, it had reportedly come to light that not less than 100 doctors from India were refused visas, post being hired by the NHS, thanks to the Tier 2 monthly allocation being over-subscribed.
In other domains also, specialists reportedly warn that access to foreign experts continues to be critical for the UK economy’s progress and development.
Justifying the nation’s immigration policy and upper visa limits, however, the UK Home Office has reportedly proclaimed that while it knows and appreciates the “contribution” made by the global experts, it is vital that the nation’s immigration structure guarantees that the local recruiters first explore the local talent bank prior to looking abroad.
