India’s software business lobby group Nasscom has presented a memo to the immigration advisors panel of the UK determining the concerns about proposal from the government to curb the migration numbers of overseas skilled workers into the UK.
The memo was presented in answer to the call from the Committee of Migration Advisory for commenting from all the stakeholders in the process of visa. Nasscom had argued that the restrain will considerably raise the cost of operating of the businesses in the country and will also force the firms to export the job outside of the UK to remain competitive.
It also highlighted the limited effect the affected skilled workers have on the problem of the UK’s immigration and the consequences of the visa limits on the productivity of the UK’s business and the competitiveness and cost of the businesses of the UK.
The committee was set up by the government of the UK for tightening the immigration rules, which also include the provision for Tier 2 skilled worker or infra firm transfer visas that would allow the overseas firms to transfer the employees from one branch to the other in the country. Many analysts have observed that the majority of the visas are used by the IT companies of India.
It also directed the panel to fix a skill levy on the businesses that hire employees from outside of Europ and raise the least wage paid to the skilled overseas workers that is upto 20,000 pounds.
The panel would submit its report to the government of the UK in the month of December, and the final policy would be announced in the next year January.
Global trade development director at Nasscom, Gagan Sabharwal, said that the limits, quotas, and the better salaries would be counterproductive as it would create the distortion in the economy of the UK.
He also told that the restrain to the visas for skilled workers would slow down the growth of outsourcing industry of India, which send many employees to the UK. UK accounts for the fifth of roughly 100 billion dollars of software exports from India.
Top outsourcing firms from India like TCS, Wipro, and Infosys earn much of their income from the Europe. And according to the National Statistics Office in the UK, the number of people migrated to the UK in last year stood at the record high number of 3,30,000 which is an increase of 30% compared to previous year. Gagan Sabharwal told that out of 3,33,000 immigrants, only 13,000 were on the skilled overseas worker visas that permitted them to reside and work in the UK for up to five year period of time.
