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UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has hinted at UK visa concessions for Indian nationals as he attempts to secure a trade deal with India. Johnson has signalled that he is ready to ease visa restrictions for Indians in an effort to bring forward the target date for a trade deal agreement from the end of 2022 to the autumn.
Johnson’s plan, should he pursue it, represents a massive U-turn on previous comments made about easing UK visa restrictions to secure a trade deal with India. The Prime Minister has previously insisted that easing immigration rules was ‘not an option’.
UK visas to study, work and settle in Britain have long been a high priority for Delhi in an effort to improve commercial ties between the two countries. However, London’s reluctance to open its doors is seen as the ‘principal obstacle’ in agreeing a trade deal, which both the UK and India want to complete by the end of 2022.
Two-day India visit
Now it seems that Johnson is ready to accommodate India’s pursuit of easier access to UK visas following discussions with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, during a two-day visit to the south-Asian country.
When asked by reporters whether he had ‘anything to offer’ Mr Modi in terms of UK visas, Johnson immediately responded by saying that Britain is in need of hundreds of thousands of workers with ‘in-demand skills’, who are given preferential treatment under the post-Brexit, points-based immigration system.
Mr Johnson said: “I have always been in favour of having people coming into this country. We have a massive shortage in the UK, not least in experts in IT and programming. We are short to the tune of hundreds of thousands in our economy. We need to have a professional approach, but it has got to be controlled.”
Meanwhile, speaking later at the controversial opening of a JCB factory in Ahmedabad, the capital of India’s Gujarati region, the UK Prime Minister made it clear that he was eager for a trade agreement to be reached, which he said would be ‘one of the biggest’ since Britain’s official exit from the European Union.
Johnson said: “We’re hoping to complete another free trade agreement, with India, by the end of the year, by the autumn.”
Talks at a logjam
Talks between the UK and India have hit a logjam, primarily over the UK visa issue. However, Johnson said that a number of commercial agreements and export deals have been reached worth a total of £1bn and will lead to the creation of 11,000 jobs, the majority of which will be in the UK.
Johnson said that relations between Britain and India have been boosted by what he described as the ‘living bridge’ of people of Indian origin living in the UK, and that he himself has relatives by marriage living in India.
The UK Prime Minister said that British politicians have to ‘respect and understand the sensitivities’ of the UK’s history as the imperial ruler of India, but added: “The great thing about the relationship today is that it is in a different place and it is less encumbered by that baggage.”
However, Johnson’s long-awaited trip to India, which has twice been cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic, threatens to be overshadowed by India’s failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or to scale back its trading relationship with Moscow.
India continues to be a significant consumer of Russia’s military and energy exports.
However, Downing Street sources have said that while Mr Johnson won’t ‘lecture’ Mr Modi over Russia, the UK PM will offer ‘constructive’ proposals for alternative sources that will lessen India’s reliance on Russian exports.
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