Answering Indian demands for more visas with fast-track checks at Heathrow is unlikely to help in forging post-Brexit trade relationship

The demand for significant concessions by the UK government on visas for Indian visitors and migrants – whether to do business, work or study – has long been considered a major potential sticking point in any new trade deal, either with the EU or a Brexit Britain.

Before Theresa May’s first official visit outside Europe as prime minister, Indian business leaders made clear the single most important “open for business” sign she could make would be to cut the £330 cost of a two-year visitor visa to the UK to £87 – the same rate as China gets. Karan Bilimoria, chairman of Cobra Beer, declared such a move would “make the visit a success at a single stroke”.

Instead the Home Office ham-fistedly announced on Thursday that Indian companies wishing to move employees to the UK would face a higher salary threshold from the end of November because of concerns that the “intra-company transfer” route was being used to undercut the wages of British workers.

Indian companies, especially in the tech sector, make the most use of that route, accounting for 72% of the 40,000 visas issued each year to skilled staff to work in the UK. So a decision to raise the minimum salary threshold from £24,800 to £30,000 a year for those who come for less than 12 months and to abolish this short term altogether from next April impacts particularly on Indian companies.

Against this background, May’s announcement that Indian businesspeople who regularly travel to Britain would be among the first to benefit from the “registered traveller scheme” cut little ice.

For the select few “high net-worth individuals”, the process of applying for a visa will be quicker with fewer forms to fill out and they will be able to join the EU/EEA queue at passport control, meaning a swifter passage through the airport, but May was silent on any moves to boost the number of visas issued to Indians to come to Britain.

“The figures show that we issue more work visas to India than I think the US, Australia and China put together. Nine out of 10 visa applications from India are already accepted. We have, I believe, a good system,” the prime minister said.

As the Hindustan Times reported on Monday, May offered the prospect of increasing visa numbers only in return for greater cooperation over illegal immigrants in Britain. “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,” she said on Monday.

Student numbers show the stark impact May’s own policies of reducing net migration to below 100,000 have had on the flow from India to the UK over the past six years.

The number of Indian students coming to UK universities and higher education colleges has fallen sharply, from 39,090 in 2010-11 to 18,320 in 2014-15, partly as a result of the squeeze on post-study work visas for non-EU students.



Over the last decade, Indian visitor numbers to the UK have remained static at about 400,000 a year while France has become Indian tourists’ European destination of choice, with more than 500,000 visitors in 2015. During this period, Britain’s market share of Indian tourists halved at a time when the market was growing at 10% a year, the UK tourist industry has complained.

When it comes to work, Indians make up 57% – 53,548 – of the 93,935 skilled visas that were granted in the 12 months to June 2016, but the threat of closing the short-term intra-company transfer route will make a severe dent in those numbers.

In light of Indian demands for cheaper and more visas, May’s offer of a fast-track channel at Heathrow for the wealthiest of India’s businesspeople is unlikely to generate the kind of goodwill a post-Brexit Britain is going to need to forge new trading relationships.