UK may curb short term visas to workers of IT companies |
After the United States of America, its now the UK who is reviewing its intra-company transfer visa issued by the Indian companies. The reviewing of ICT visas has been ordered by Britain`s home secretary Priti Patel. The review would have mostly Indian companies in the scanner who transfer employees to UK offices for varying periods, shortly ahead of a new points-based immigration regime that takes effect in January. Official figures show that the ICT visa is mostly issued to Indians, reflecting the growing number of Indian software and other companies setting up base or servicing clients from a UK base. In the year ending June 2020, 48% of Tier 2 visas were granted to Indian professionals. According to the officials, the ICT visa is part of the Tier 2 visa route. Overall, there was a 20% fall in Tier 2 visas granted. Almost all of the 20 percent fall was accounted for by a decrease in grants of ICT visas, which decreased by 38% to 33,971 in the year ending June 2020. Much of this decline is a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ICT route currently has a different salary threshold compared to the main Tier 2 route and different requirements, and the absence of any need relating to the English language. It also contains a sub-category for graduate trainees. Indian stakeholders have been urging UK authorities to exclude ICT visa holders from paying the mandatory National Insurance contribution, since they do not stay long enough in the UK to be eligible for the state pension.
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