Scotland's Indian restaurants face closure

Thursday, 07 October 2004, 19:30 IST
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LONDON: Scotland's Indian restaurants, mostly run by Bangladeshis, face a chronic staffing crisis that could shut many of them down. Despite the generic term "Indian" to describe the restaurants, 85 percent are run by Bangladeshi businessmen, whose sons and daughters are choosing to follow careers rather than enter the family business. The owners have been forced to look to their homeland for staff, but they claim immigration restrictions prevent Bangladeshi workers from travelling to Scotland. According to reports, since April this year more than 90 percent of the 2,500 Bangladeshis granted temporary, 12-month work permits in Britain have subsequently been refused visas. The Foreign Office claim discoveries of forged documents and fears that Bangladeshis would not return home after their visa expired led to the refusals. Edinburgh restaurant owner, Tommy Miah, 45, says: "Every restaurateur I know in the country has a shortage of skilled staff and the visa problem is not helping. "Over the past year, I have had several people whose work permits I have paid for been refused entry into the UK. With all the paperwork and legal fees, it costs around 600 pounds per permit, so it is not cheap." Miah has set up his own training academy to give prospective employees grounding before they travel to the UK, so that lack of experience is not cited as a reason for visa refusal. The government introduced a scheme in May last year granting workers from abroad permits to fill shortages in the hospitality and food-manufacturing industries. A spokesman for the Bangladesh Caterers Association said: "Lads who were brought up in Scotland are now more likely to go to university instead of working in a family restaurant. But thousands of people are being blocked by the government, despite having already been given work permits. "With the well drying up, it could become a vicious circle of decline for a major industry in Scotland and the UK as a whole." The spokesman added: "If restaurants cannot get the staff and have to close, it could have a knock-on effect around the country - it's very worrying." A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: "There has been a real surge in applications from people who are not eligible. "Forged documents and our judgment that workers will not leave after 12 months are also two major factors in refusing visas."
Source: IANS
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