[ALOCHONA] UK visas to turn elusive for Bangladeshis

UK visas to turn elusive for many

Bangladeshi students, job-seekers face new restriction from April

Courtesy Daily Star 25/11/10 Staff Correspondent

The UK is going to lower the limit of annual non-European immigration to the kingdom, which will significantly reduce the number of Bangladeshi students and guest workers going there.

"The government has committed to introduce an annual limit of 21,700 for those coming into the UK under the skilled and highly skilled route, 20,700 under the skilled route and 1,000 under the new 'exceptional talent' route," said a statement of British High Commission in Dhaka yesterday.

The limit will be effective from April next year for non-European people.

"Bangladesh will surely see fewer number of its citizens going to the UK either for jobs or studies," said an official of the British High Commission in Dhaka.

First of all, the recession is still continuing in the UK and secondly there were a lot of cases in which students going there started working, the official told The Daily Star yesterday evening.

Presently, there are around 5 lakh Bangladeshis in the UK. The total number of Bangladeshi students is unknown. However, only in 2009, 17,000 Bangladeshis went to the UK for studies, an official said.

The introduction of an annual limit was Britain's coalition government's pledge and will allow Britain to remain competitive in the international job market, while ensuring migrant labour is not used as a substitute for those already looking for work in the UK, the release read.

To implement the pledge, the UK also decided to limit the number of staff that international corporations are allowed to transfer to Britain from their offices in other countries.

No official of corporations, who earns less than £40,000 annually, will be allowed to stay in the UK for more than a year.

Britain will also restrict the highly skilled tier of the point-based system, except for the entrepreneurs, investors and exceptionally talented persons.

Under the point-based system, people are not given visas unless they score a certain number of points in the system.

"The government was determined to make changes to Tier-1--the 'highly skilled' tier--when it was revealed that approximately a third of those coming through this route were actually doing low-skilled jobs once in the UK," the British High Commission said.

"We will take action on all routes into the UK and these changes are crucial if we are to limit the numbers coming here to work, while still attracting the brightest and the best to the UK," said Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May.

"We have worked closely with businesses while designing this system, and listened to their feedback, but we have also made clear that as the recovery continues, we need employers to look first to people who are out of work and who are already in this country."

The UK government will also hold consultations before the end of the year focusing on Tier-4 of the point-based system--the student route--which currently accounts for two thirds of migrants entering the UK each year, May said.

"By introducing a system that is more selective and more robust, the government aims to prevent abuse while continuing to attract the top students to our top universities," the secretary said.

Meanwhile, Times newspaper from London on Tuesday reported that Indian officials warned the Cameron government over restricting the rights of their citizens to study and work in the UK during his visit in July.

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