New Delhi: The British government is considering a review of the new immigration laws, after witnessing resentment of thousands of Indian doctors who fear losing jobs due to the altered laws.
Britain’s Immigration Minister Liam Byrne held a meeting with representatives of the HSMP Forum at the House of Commons. Byrne said that he was sorry to know the impact of the changes on people's lives and that he is going to "review and reflect about the changes," he was quoted by PTI.
An estimated 16,000 of the 49,000 Highly Skilled Migrants Programme visa holders from India and other non-EU countries apprehend that they might not qualify for VISA extension under the new immigration rule and might face deportation from the UK.
"We are hopeful that the Minister would take into consideration the impact the retrospective changes has made on the HSMP holders and their families. We would wait to hear on the Minister's review of the change. We hope after seeing the impact the change has made, the minister would rethink on the retrospective change," Amit Kapadia, Director and Coordinator of HSMP Forum was quoted by PTI.
Member of British Parliament, Keith Vaz, MP and Chairman of Joint committee on Human Rights, Andrew Dismore, representatives of the High Commission of India, Nepal and Nigeria met t discuss the effects of the new HSMP rules.
"When you hear of the families affected, job prospects ruined and of children living in an atmosphere of insecurity you realize that the Government must make every effort to secure the future of these people," Vaz, the former Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Office was quoted by PTI.
Noting that Britain's reputation as a fair country was at stake, Vaz said, "If we are to continue to benefit from the work of highly skilled migrants we must be able to prove that we operate on a basis which is clear, transparent and balanced."
Andrew Dismore, MP, Chairman of Joint Committee on Human Rights, said the changes effected in the immigration rules were against "human rights article 8 and unlawful according to human rights laws."
A statement, read out on behalf of the Indian High Commission, said the plight of HSMP visa holders was raised during discussions between the UK Chancellor of Exchequer, Gordon Brown and the President of the Indian National Congress Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the Chancellor's recent visit to India.
The High Commission had also raised the issue with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and had written to Lord Triesman, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. The High Commissioner had emphasised that given the "genuine human dimension of HSMP status", the British Government should not implement the new points based system retrospectively and those Indians who had entered the UK since 2002 should be exempted from the new rules.
At least 90 per cent of the 49,000 HSMP visa holders would not qualify for further VISA extension if the new immigrations rules were implemented strictly, Kapadia observed.
With inputs from PTI
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