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Cap on UK work visas no harm to Indian IT: Nasscom
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 25 November 2010, 09:31 IST
New Delhi: The coalition government in UK has announced its visa policy that reflects a realistic approach to the government's plan to restrict the number of skilled non-EU workers to enter Britain while promoting trade and business. The approach is welcomed by the Indian IT and BPO industry body Nasscom, saying that UK government's decision to fix a cap on the number of visas issued to skilled workers from India and other countries from April, 2011, is not going to have any adverse impact on the $60 billion export-driven Indian IT industry.
In an effort to reduce immigration from non-European Union countries, the British government had capped the number of permits issued to skilled workers from outside the EU zone at 21,700. This will translate into 6,300 less visas being issued in 2010 than in the previous year. However, the cap excludes employees transferred by their companies from another country on intra-company transfer visas, which are mostly used by Indian IT companies.
UK is a key market for the Indian IT-BPO industry and Indian companies have built a successful partnership with business and government in UK to enhance competitiveness, enable service delivery and create value for both economies.
"We are pleased that as per our representation, there is no cap imposed on Intra-Company Transfers (ICTs) of skilled professionals. The move is unlikely to have any major impact on the Indian IT sector, as the cap excludes the ICTs," Nasscom VP (Global Trade Development) Ameet Nivsarkar said.
Though there is no cap on the ICTs, the UK has increased the minimum annual salary for expatriate professionals. Only employees with an annual salary in excess of 40,000 pounds will be allowed to stay and work in the UK for a five-year period.
The visa restrictions imposed by Europe come months after the U.S., the largest market for the Indian IT industry, announced a slew of protectionist measures, including hiking visa fees.