Don’t complain about UK visa rules-May to businesses
by Harleen Kaur - June 20, 2012
United Kingdom, 20th June: The UK Home Secretary Theresa May has clearly warned UK businesses to stop complaining about recent changes to UK visa norms.
A large number of UK businesses had alleged that new UK visa rules are proving to be a deterrent to the nation’s economy.
Tough visa rules restricting international talent—Britain is finding it difficult to attract foreign business talent thus posing a threat to the economy of the nation. This was revealed by a group of lawyers to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron. They further said that the pledge of the Cameron government to slash down immigration levels is proving dampening for the UK economy.
It could have further devastating effects, they protested. There are several instances of a large number of MNCs(multinational companies) dropping their investment strategies due to difficulty in bringing foreigners with specialist skills to the UK.
UK not open to business-Cable—The fears of businesses brought forward by the lawyers were quite right, feels UK business secretary Vince Cable. Sharing the views of UK businesses, Cable said by introducing tougher UK immigration rules, the impression the nation is giving to the world is that it is no longer open for business.
Changes to UK visa rules—The UK has introduced a series of changes to its immigration norms. These changes will be applicable to firms wanting to bring in their foreign workers for working in the UK under ICT(intra company transfer) scheme.
As per new UK visa rules under ICT scheme, foreign workers will be under compulsion to stay for a minimum of one year outside the UK to become eligible for switching between permanent and temporary UK visas. This will mean an end to the earlier provision of getting permanent posting after their stay in the UK.
The new UK immigration ruling became effective May this year and is among several steps by the UK to bring down UK immigration levels by the year 2015.
It aims to curb IT firms using ICT scheme as a route for getting UK work visas for foreign workers. The purpose of cooling-off period is to disallow ICTs from becoming a hindrance in controlling economic migration, affirmed an official spokesperson of UKBA (UK Border Agency).
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