UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has approved 3,000 visas per year for young professionals from India to work in the UK.
According to the British government, India is the first visa-national country to benefit from such a scheme, highlighting the importance of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership signed last year.
In a tweet, the UK Prime Minister’s Office said, “Today the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme was confirmed, offering 3,000 places to 18-30-year-old degree-educated Indian nationals to come to the UK to live and work for up to two years.”
This announcement was made in a Downing Street readout just hours after Mr Sunak met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit’s 17th edition. This was their first meeting after the first Indian-origin British PM assumed office last month.
“Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @RishiSunak in conversation during the first day of the @g20org Summit in Bali,” PM Modi’s Office tweeted.
The UK will offer 3,000 places each year to 18-30-year-old degree-educated Indian nationals to come to the UK to live and work for up to two years under the new UK-India Young Professionals Scheme. The scheme will be mutual.
“The launch of the scheme is a significant moment both for our bilateral relationship with India and the UK’s wider commitment to forging stronger links with the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen both our economies,” Downing Street said in a statement.
According to the report, the United Kingdom has more ties with India than almost any other country in the Indo-Pacific region. India accounts for nearly a quarter of all international students in the UK, and Indian investment in the UK supports 95,000 jobs across the country.
The United Kingdom is currently negotiating a trade agreement with India; if reached, it will be India’s first agreement of its kind with a European country. The trade agreement would expand on the UK-India trading relationship, which is already worth 24 billion pounds, and would allow the UK to capitalise on the opportunities presented by India’s expanding economy.
In addition to the mobility partnership with India, the British government stated that it is improving its ability to deport immigration offenders.
“A landmark Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the UK and India in May 2021 aimed at increasing mobility between our countries, returning those with no right to be in the UK and India respectively and sharing best practice on organised immigration crime,” the UK PMO added.