By IANS
New Delhi : Britain will implement from Feb 29 a new points-based immigration system for assessing visa applications of highly skilled immigrants working in that country, visiting British Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said here Wednesday.
In India, the new system for highly skilled migrants, to be now known as Tier 1, will be launched from April 1, and will be followed in the rest of the world later, the minister told reporters here Wednesday evening.
The minister made India the platform to launch the scheme, copied from Australia, as India is Britain’s “most important market for highly skilled migrants”, with nearly 300,000 British visas issued here in 2007.
“The points system means only those migrants that Britain needs can come to the United Kingdom,” he said, adding that any fraudulent application under this system will automatically lead to a ban for 10 years.
Britain last year announced it will be doing the “biggest shake-up” of its border security and immigration in 45 years. It includes proposals to introduce bond deposits for family members, halving the period of visa and launching new categories of visa.
As part of the consultation process, the minister is currently in India along with a delegation of British-Asian leaders to talk to the Indian government as well as other stakeholders.
He Tuesday visited Punjab, where he heard views from civil society members on the new immigration proposals. He met Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi Wednesday, and Minister Of State For External Affairs Anand Sharma Monday.
He said it was time for upgradation of the short-term visa system, describing it “as not fit for purpose of 21st century”. Byrne said that the government was looking at introducing new types of tourist visas for groups or individuals, as well as “modernize” family visa and make business visas “more flexible”.
Even as he talked about Britain’s determination to combat illegal immigration, the minister was unable to provide any statistics on the extent of this problem. “It is a difficult question to answer,” he admitted, blaming the lack of data on the removal of exit checks in the mid-90s. “I think that (removal of exit checks) was a mistake, so we cannot know if people have overstayed or not when they leave. I will be working to bring them back,” said the minister.
The Visitors Consultation Paper issued by the British Home Office last year had asked for views on several new proposals, like the maximum visit period for tourists and penalty for sponsor if a family member violates visa conditions.
He pointed out that the bond deposits were not to be implemented in all family visit cases, but only in certain “high risk flights”.
On the proposal to halve the visa period from six months to three, Byrne said that the vast majority of visitors never stayed in Britain for more than three months. “Why should there be a product for which there are no users?”
He said that the most comprehensive reforms in the immigration policy were to make it easier for legitimate visitors to travel to the country.
The minister was enthusiastic about providing a “more sophisticated range of customizing the product”. For example, he talked about a possible “cut price” for group travellers and a special visa for visitors to the 2012 London Olympics.