Consequences of Brexit.
The government of UK has announced a new visa policy that aims to cut the unabated growth of non-EU immigrants into the workforce. The policy poses a threat to Indian IT companies and professionals who prefer UK as one of their top job destinations after the US.
According to the new law passed by the UK Home Office, on Thursday, starting from November 24, employees applying for Tier 2 intra-company transfer must have a salary threshold of 30,000 pounds as against the earlier 20,800 pounds.
According to data revealed by the UK Migration Advisory Committee, 90% of intra-company visas issued is being utilized by Indian IT workers employed by Indian IT companies in Britain.
The decision of the Home Office comes just before British Prime Minister Theresa May is scheduled to land in India for the first time after her appointment in the wake of Brexit. She will arrive in India on Sunday for a three-day visit.
The UK Home Office in a statement said: “The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee, will affect applications made on or after November 24 unless stated otherwise.”
In addition to the increase in the salary slab of Tire 2 ICT, Home Office has also announced a hike in the salary of Tier 2 (General) category, raising the threshold of experienced workers to 25,000 pounds with a few exceptions.
The UK government also reduced the threshold of the Tier 2 (ICT) graduate trainee salary to 23,000 pounds and increasing the number of places to 20 per company a year, and closing the Tier 2 (ICT) skills transfer sub-category.
Tier 4 category has also undergone a few changes, especially regards to the maintenance requirements for the Doctorate Extension Scheme.
The Migration Advisory Committee had earlier issued an advisory to the UK government to curb the Tier 2 ICT route so as to decrease dependence on the foreign workforce.
MAC report had said: “(Immigration) is not serving to increase the incentive to employers to train and upskill the UK workforce. Ready access to a pool of skilled IT professionals in India is an example of this. We did not see any substantive evidence of long-standing reciprocal arrangements whereby UK staff are given the opportunity to gain skills, training and experience from working in India.”
The committee had also taken a note that multinational companies in India had developed a competitive advantage in delivering IT projects in the UK.
“They have developed a delivery model, whereby significant elements of projects are delivered offshore in India, taking advantage of the fact that Indian salaries are lower than in the UK for equivalent workers. Indeed, partners told us that India currently has a competitive advantage in training IT workers and in the time it would take to fully upskill the native population, technology would have moved on,” the report concluded.
What is also worrying for Indian immigrants is the new English language requirements for immigrants outside the EU. This could be a hurdle for a family member while applying for settlement after completing two and a half years in the UK.