UK PM Rishi Sunak green lights new Indian youth visa scheme

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday (November 16) green-lit a new Indian youth visa scheme that will give Indian degree holders, in the age-group of 18 to 30 years, an opportunity to live and work in the UK for upto two years.

The UK will offer 3,000 visas every year under this youth mobility partnership scheme for Indians, which will be formally launched in early 2023. The reciprocal scheme, which will also allow British nationals to live and work in India, was signed as part of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) last year.

British PM Sunak launched this scheme as part of the UK’s Indo-Pacific focus at the G20 Summit in Bali, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confirm the new bespoke route. Downing Street said India is the first visa-national country to benefit from such a scheme.

A significant moment in UK-India bilateral relationship

Britain’s first Indian-origin PM said that he knows first-hand the incredible value of the deep cultural and historic ties they have with India. “I am pleased that even more of India’s brightest young people will now have the opportunity to experience all that life in the UK has to offer and vice-versa – making our economies and societies richer,” he said.

The launch of the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme is dubbed as a significant moment for the bilateral relationship. It also emphasises UK’s wider commitment to forge stronger links with the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen both Indian and British economies.

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It is also seen as an effort to propel the ongoing free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, which are now expected to run until, at least, March next year.

FTA and immigration offenders

Downing Street said such an FTA will be the first deal of its kind India has made with a European country and would build on the UK-India trading relationship worth GBP 24 billion annually. Further, it pointed out that the UK has more links with India than almost any country in the Indo-Pacific region, as nearly a quarter of all international students in the UK are from India and Indian investment into the UK supports 95,000 jobs across the UK.

In parallel to the mobility partnership with India, UK is also strengthening their ability to remove immigration offenders, Downing Street added. Also, it said a landmark memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the UK and India in May 2021 aimed at increasing mobility between our countries, returning those with no right to be in the UK and India respectively and sharing best practice on organised immigration crimes.

Indo-Pacific focus

On the wider Indo-Pacific focus, Sunak is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia, the largest gathering of global leaders in the region since before the coronavirus pandemic.

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Ahead of the meet, Sunak had said that the Indo-Pacific is increasingly crucial for UK’s security and prosperity. “It is teeming with dynamic and fast-growing economies, and the next decade will be defined by what happens in this region,” he added.

Downing Street said the UK PM will encourage China to use its place on the global stage responsibly to resolve geopolitical tensions, ensure regional stability and play its part in tackling the devastating global impact of the war in Ukraine.

It confirmed that work is underway on an update to last year’s Integrated Review of the country’s foreign policy priorities to take account of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the evolving challenges posed by China. Meanwhile, as part of that Integrated Review, the UK reiterated its commitment to build the “broadest presence” in the Indo-Pacific of any European country.