Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday urged British Prime Minister Theresa May to review the new visa rules announced by the U.K. Government, and conveyed that movement of skilled tech workers from India should be seen as a trade priority rather than as immigrants’ issue.
“Temporary placement of highly-skilled individuals in the U.K. provides a significant economic boost, while having a negligible impact on net migration,” he said, referring to the high bar set for granting of U.K. visas by the British government.
The Chief Minister, who welcomed Ms. May at the airport here and held a one-on-one meeting with her, said new visa rules announced would make it mandatory for tech workers moving to the U.K. under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category to have a salary of £30,000 as against the £20,800 earlier.
Expanding presence About 15 per cent of U.K.-based companies in India are in Karnataka employing 23,000 people.
Several Karnataka-based companies such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Dynamatic Technologies, Biocon, Microlabs continue to expand their presence in the U.K.
However, Ms May did not visit to any of the top Indian IT firms based in the city.
British PM visits school
The British Prime Minister also interacted with students of a government school near here on Tuesday and watched the IAF’s fly-past with them.
She visited the Stonehill Government Higher Primary School in Tarahunse village shortly after she flew in here from New Delhi.
(With inputs from PTI)
