Tighter visa rules for UK-bound Indian IT workers

[ChromeFoundry]

Source: Economic Times of India

Dec 2009, 1900 hrs IST, PTI

LONDON: Britain has tightened immigration rules from January for Indian IT professionals seeking to move to the UK under inter-company transfers.

From next year, workers in this category will need to have 12 months experience instead of six months as at present with their employer before they can be transferred to the UK, official sources said.

The immigration category will be closed as a route to permanent settlement in the UK.

This means that IT professionals who come to the UK under inter-company transfer will not be allowed to settle here permanently even after the mandatory stay of five years.

Immigration officials also denied reports that the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category of the points-based system was providing a loophole for Indian IT companies to bring foreign workers into the UK.

Under an intra-company transfer, an employer can fill vacancies in its UK operations by bringing across some of its existing foreign-based staff.



Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/visa-power/Tighter-visa-rules-for-UK-bound-Indian-IT-workers/articleshow/5319002.cms

[OhioChick]

1. Nice to see another country doing something right....

Other than those pesky "loopholes."

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

2. FWIW, the U.S. equivalent to intra-company transferee visas

is the dreadful L-1B visa (L-1A only applies to intra-company managers and executives, a much more stringent standard), not the H-1B of which very few on DU know how it works.