During his visit to the United Kingdom, PM Modi was supposed to sign a deal with the UK allowing the UK to send illegal Indian immigrants back to the country. But part of the deal was for Indians to get easier access to British visas. According to TOI, On Wednesday, a home office spokesperson said, “The MoU signed by minister of immigration Caroline Nokes and Indian minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju on 11 January… paves the way for a quicker and more efficient process for documenting and returning Indian nationals who are in the UK illegally (sic).” In November 2017, the British Prime Minister Theresa May had said, “the UK would consider further improvements to its visa offer if, at the same time, we can step up the speed and volume of returns of Indians with no right to remain in the UK.”
The British didn’t keep up their end of the bargain, and it was still easier for the Chinese to attain British visas than Indians. The Britain offers two-year multiple-entry visit visa to Chinese citizens. 88,456 is the number of Chinese citizens were granted visas which makes it around 40 percent of the total visas granted.
But Indians, on the other hand, face hostile environments like visa cancellation on small grounds and denial of spousal visas. And so, despite this MoU being the centerpiece of his UK visit, PM Modi has refused to sign it on the aforementioned grounds, an act that has reportedly left the British startled and red-faced.
Other reasons for not signing this MoU are that the time given in the MoU for verifying people’s identities is not sufficient and impractical. According to the proposal, Indian authorities were only granted 70 days to verify a suspected illegal Indian in the UK without ID and 15 days to confirm the identity of someone with ID. Clearly, the Britain’s visa policy is unrealistic and discriminatory. Britain is doing all this despite the fact that Indian students, workers, visitors contribute immensely to the British economy through their knowledge and academic skills, working skills and purchasing power. There are many big companies of India which play a great role in boosting the economy of Britain like of Tata’s, Mittal, Hinduja etc. Access to Visa is a bargaining chip in making free trade negotiations with Britain after Brexit.
A senior Indian high commission official told TOI, “When May went to India she said progress on returns would help progress on UK visas for Indians, but we are not seeing that. We are seeing the denial of spousal visas and cancelling visas on small pretexts and a hostile environment. We need to see some easing of migration, especially of short-term visas such as for Indians students and those coming to work for companies.” He further added, “We want a better visa system, if they are offering it to the Chinese, why not to Indians?”
Britain must understand that this is a PM who has no illusions about India’s power and clout. The British can deal with the illegal immigrants now, considering they thought they’ll get away without upholding their side of the bargain. This is the message that PM Modi has sent to Britain and the world.
