The educational community expressed that the strong attitude of the United Kingdom on immigration is compelling the scientists of the foreign countries to visit other competing countries.
The Government delivered a public speech on reducing immigration and complicating the visa process for visiting researchers. In response, during a meeting held last month at the Home Office, the delegates of prominent scientific organizations and universities have told that Britain would turn out to be an uninviting destiny for the intellectuals.
CaSE known as The Campaign for Science and Engineering at London has its members from scientific societies, universities and various businesses. The members of the campaign have expressed their worry about the difficulties in the official procedures that are followed for particular visa schemes.
CaSE is actively campaigning in promoting the government to change its policies. It says that if the immigration and the visa policies are not considered for revising, that would definitely scare the students coming from abroad. Upper chamber of Parliament, known as The House of Lords, has also started its investigation in this regard.
Under the campaign launched by CaSE, in 2010, scientists are kept open to United Kingdom. Consequently government has changed different rules. For Ex: The government preferred the employers who are UK residents.
A new type of visa known as ‘exceptional talent route’ was started to draw the attention of the expert migrants. This built place for 700 scientists who can come to UK if they are certified by the British Academy or the Royal Academy of Engineering. At the same time 300 places are allotted for skilled workers in arts.
This has been the success story all through. But now the government is taking tough steps on immigration. In 2012 there were 182,000 migrants to UK and now the government is taking steps to reduce the migrants by tens of thousands each year by 2015.
Mark Harper, the immigration minister, has told that, the government was trying to build a nation that is supporting the development, limiting the violence, at the same time encouraging the best talent.
With this statement, the Home Office might argue that they have not abused any concessions that were approved to them in 2010. By 2011 the new policy on migration and visas has come into effect. From then on, only about 89 applicants have entered the United Kingdom between 2011 and 2013 June.
One more major concern is about problems faced by the scientists in entering UK for attending conferences or delivering the speeches. They fall into the category of ‘academic visitor’. In 2013, between January and September, the Border Agency of UK received 4,770 visas in the academic visitor category out of which 13% were rejected.
