Britain to offer 3000 visas each year to degree-educated Indians

Image by Twitter @RishiSunak

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met PM Rishi Sunak on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia this week.

This was the first meeting between the two leaders where Modi congratulated Sunak on assuming office as the top leader last month.

The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the state of the wide-ranging India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and progress on the Roadmap 2030 for Future Relations. They appreciated the importance of working together in bilateral and multilateral forums including G20 and the Commonwealth.

Discussions also touched upon important sectors of collaboration such as trade, mobility, defence and security.

On Wednesday, 16 November, Downing Street also announced that the UK will offer 3000 visas annually to Indians between the ages of 18 to 30, to come into the country for two years and look for jobs. This route will open in 2023.

The announcement, which means that India will be the first visa-national country to benefit from the new visa scheme, came just hours after the meeting between Sunak and Modi.

“I know first-hand the incredible value of the deep cultural and historic ties we have with India,” Sunak said.

“I am pleased that even more of India’s brightest young people will now have the opportunity to experience all that life in the UK has to offer – and vice-versa – making our economies and societies richer.”

The agreement highlights the strength of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership agreed last year. A trade deal was also underway and about to be finalised in October but was postponed due to diplomatic issues after Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s unfavourable comments about Indian migrants in an interview earlier in the same month.

Things seem to be resolving steadily as Sunak’s office confirmed that the UK is currently negotiating the trade deal with India, which if signed “will be the first deal of its kind India has made with a European country.”