20 Pct Fall Witnessed in British Visas Issued to Indians

Bangalore: In over a year the number of Indians getting visas to travel to the UK for work or study purpose has fallen by almost 20 percent, said the latest immigration data from the government's office of national statistics (ONS), reported Kounteya Sinha for TNN.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron had recently said that the UK would welcome Indians with open arms, but the ONS data revealed that the number of visas issued to Indians fell by 18,365, which is about  19 percent  between 2011 and 2012. However, these numbers include visitor and transit visas.

Immigration to the UK fell from 589,000 to 515,000, which is the lowest since 2003.

It was also noted that Pakistanis recorded for a huge 48 percent drop in British visas issued to them. Further, Asians accounted for 273,927 (54 percent) of the 507,701 visas issued in the year 2012, with India and China each accounting for 15 percent of the total.

It was seen that the nationalities with chiefly large changes in visas issued were Pakistanis - down by 25,841 (48 percent), Indians - down by 18,365 (19 percent), Sri Lankans - down by 4,202 (45 percent), Bangladeshis – down by 3,175 (30 percent) between the year ending December 2011 and December 2012. On the other hand, the Chinese showed an increase in the number of visas issued --7,050 (+10 percent).

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