D
ata released on Wednesday indicated that UK has denied visa to 6,080 skilled workers including civil engineers, IT professionals and doctors with UK job offers since December 2017. Indians are hit the most by the UK Visa Immigration cap.
UK has tightened its hold on the number of people entering the country under the Tier 2 Visa (General) Certificate of Sponsorship (a skilled work visa). The Campaign for Science and Engineering (CaSE), acquired the figure through Freedom of Information (FOI) to the UK Home Office.
“Science, engineering and technology has long benefited from mobility of talent and collaboration across borders – including between India and the UK. The figures we’ve obtained from the Home Office show that currently our immigration system is hampering this ambition,” said CaSE Deputy Director Naomi Weir.
According to CaSE chief executive Sarah Main, “These figures show the scale of the problem and the urgency to find a solution. Across the country, businesses and public services are being blocked at the last hurdle from recruiting the people they need, including in health, engineering and tech, due to the visa cap. This leaves employers frustrated and the public poorly served.”
The fact remains that UK needs engineers to develop planned infrastructure and out of all roles that were denied visa, 392 were the positions for IT and civil engineers.
The Tier 2 Visa allows only 20,700 per year professionals outside of EU, with the monthly limit of around 1,600. Until December, the limit has exceeded only once in six years.
“The Tier 2 visa quota has been reached for the fifth month in a row, yet there are still more than 100,000 NHS posts unfilled, with vacancy rates rising. At a time when the NHS is under enormous strain and struggling to fill positions, the current visa restrictions and arbitrary caps for non-EU workers entering the UK are inexplicable and threatening patient care and safety,” Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association Council (BMA).
Last month, 100 Indian doctors were denied Visa after getting selected by NHS due to overfilling of Tier 2 visa.
(Inputs by PTI)
