WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

The UK government has caused outrage with its

decision to exclude Indian students from a new list

of countries considered low risk in order to

facilitate an easier visa application process to UK

universities.

ISSUE

• In changes to its immigration policy tabled in Parliament

yesterday, the UK Home Office announced a relaxation of the

Tier 4 visa category for overseas students from around 25

countries.

• On a list already covering countries like the US, Canada and

New Zealand, the Home Office has added on the likes of

China, Bahrain and Serbia as countries from where students

would face reduced checks on educational, financial and English

language skill requirements to study at British universities

LORD KARAN BILIMORIAPresident of the UK Council for International Student

Affairs

I consider this another kick in the teeth for India... This

sends entirely the wrong message to India, to exclude it

from these Tier 4 measures. The government has simply

got it wrong

Post-Brexit free trade agreement (FTA) with India

OTHER ISSUES

This latest insult to India is on top of

reduction made a couple of years ago for

Chinese business visitors and tourists, who

acquire two-year multiple entry visas at a

reduced price of £85; for Indians, the price

is still £388.

FACTS

• India is the third largest foreign investor in the UK

•Bilateral trade and investment is strong, and more than

800 Indian companies in the UK add an estimated £26

billion to UK’s economy and support over 110,000

jobs, according to a Grant Thornton report.

FACTS

A free trade agreement (FTA) between India

and the UK will increase bilateral trade by 26

per cent per annum, according to a new

Commonwealth report.

DEAL ON RETURN OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

ISSUE

• According to the British authorities, who have raised the illegal

migrants issue with India for several years, their numbers vary

between 75,000 and 100,000, the largest for any single

nationality in the UK.

• Indian agencies, however, challenge this figure, claiming that the

number of illegal migrants was no more than 2,000.

INDIA'S CONCERNS

India considered some of the illegal migrants,

especially Sikh and Kashmiri extremists and

sympathisers demanding separate homelands in

northern Punjab and Kashmir state, to be

‘hazardous’ and a security risk, and were loath to

take them back.

INDIAN FUGITIVES IN THE UK

•Apart from Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, who had

created quite a stir in India with their money laundering

cases, India has eight other extradition request in the

UK – Sanjeev Kumar Chawla (2004) for cricket betting,

Shaik Sadiq (2004) for conspiracy and theft, Hanif (2004)

for involvement in terrorism, Raj Kumar Patel (2009) for

forgery, Rajesh Kapoor (2011) for forgery and fraud,

Atul Singh (2012) for sex crimes, Jatinder Kumar

Angurala and Asha Rani Angurala (2014) for bank fraud.