Theresa May rolls out easier visas for rich, is tough on UK ‘illegals’

In a move to woo wealthy Indian businessmen to a post-Brexit Britain, Prime Minister Theresa May announced two major visa schemes for Indian business travellers, including the first-ever Registered Traveller Scheme (RTS) to ensure swifter grant of visa and passage through British airports, even as India on Monday flagged serious concerns over the UK’s stringent visa norms, especially for students.

Instead, the visiting British Prime Minister, in another first, conveyed her country’s anxiety over illegal immigration.

Ceding little ground on relaxing rules for Indians seeking British visas — a key demand of New Delhi, Ms May is understood to have conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that “the UK will consider further improvements to our visa offer if, at the same time, we can step up the speed and volume of returns of Indians with no right to remain.”

The Indian side, in turn, conveyed that it will follow international practice and a proper verification process.

Ms May, who had as Britain’s home secretary earned a reputation for being tough on immigration, is understood to have stuck to her guns against a more liberal visa system for other Indians, including students wanting to study there or professionals wanting to work, there by linking the issue with illegal immigration from India.

Under the second visa programme announced by the UK, the British PM said the Indian government will be the first one in the world to be invited to nominate business executives to the Great Club, a visa and immigration service that will also result in expediting visa and passage through British airports.

According to reports, India and the UK are expected to ink business deals worth more than £1 billion (Rs 83,00 crore) during Ms May’s three-day visit.

The two countries inked two business pacts on Monday, including one that will ease transfer of British expertise to India, and the other dealing with intellectual property.

On the City of London financing Indian infrastructure growth, the India-UK joint statement said, “Over $1.1 billion (INR 7,500 crore or £900 million) of rupee-denominated bonds have been issued in London since July 2016 establishing London as the leading global centre for offshore rupee finance. The two Prime Ministers commended the pioneering and highly successful bond issuances by HDFC (INR 3,000 crore or £366 million) and NTPC (INR 2,000 crore or £244 million), which will pave the way for Indian corporates to raise significant quantities of finance in London. They welcomed the intention of National Highways Authority of India and Indian Railway Finance Corporation to issue rupee-denominated bonds in the next few months.”

The issue of terror also featured in a major way. In a clear signal to Pakistan without naming it, Ms May condemned the Uri terror attack, with a joint statement by the two countries asking Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of the November 2008 and 2016 terrorist attacks in Mumbai and Pathankot. The reference to Pathankot is significant as it shows that Britain agrees that the Pathankot attack was planned in Pakistan. The joint statement also said there “should be no glorification of terrorists or efforts to make a distinction between good and bad terrorists”.

In another major outcome of talks between the two leaders, India sought extradition of 57 people from Britain who are wanted in different criminal cases. The list includes liquor baron Vijay Mallya and Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Agusta Westland helicopter deal. Sources said Britain too handed over a list of 17 such people to India whose extradition has been sought under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty or against whom Letters Rogatory have been issued. The joint statement said, “The two leaders agreed that fugitives and criminals should not be allowed to escape the law.”

Meanwhile, on the British demand for quick action by India to take back illegal immigrants, Indian government sources said that India cannot go by British claims on the identity of alleged illegal immigrants from India or those who have overstayed and said that they can be brought back to India only after a due verification process is completed.

Asked about Ms May’s reported comment that the onus is on India to call back those overstaying in Britain, MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the issue has been that the UK wants the “so called returnees” to leave based on their (British) verification. “How can we accept them because there is no DNA test which can prove (that) in the sub-continent everybody is the same,” Mr Swarup said.

The joint statement declared, “The two Prime Ministers agreed that ensuring simple and effective visa systems depended critically on cooperation to protect the integrity of border and immigration systems. This included ensuring the timely and efficient return of individuals to their country of origin, as required by their respective national laws. Both countries agreed to strengthen co-operation in this area by implementing an expedited process for verifying the nationality and issuing travel documents.”

During the talks with PM May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged India’s concerns over stringent student visa norms which require students to return home after their courses end. This had led to a fall in Indian students’ enrolment in British universities by 50 per cent.

Earlier, addressing India-UK Tech Summit with Ms May in attendance, Mr Modi asked Britain to relax student visa rules saying greater mobility of young people must be encouraged, to which the British Premier said her country has a “good system” in place, insisting that nine out of 10 student visa applications from India are approved.