By IANS
Chandigarh : Britain Tuesday offered to set up a visa centre in Punjab to curb the illegal immigration from the state to that country.
Liam Byrne, British Home Office Minister of state for borders and immigration and minister for the West Midlands, made the offer to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a meeting here.
“We are ready to set up a visa centre either at Jalandhar or Chandigarh. Later, it can be converted into a full-fledged consulate,” Byrne said.
The British minister, who arrived in New Delhi Monday for a four-day India visit, was in Chandigarh to get feedback on a field research being carried out by the British government on introducing strict immigration norms. He was accompanied by a few Asian representatives settled in Britain.
“The new immigration norms are the biggest ever shake-up in the last 45 years. The effort is not to discourage migration but to make visiting Britain simpler, fair and faster,” Byrne clarified, dispelling fears that the country was contemplating a stricter regime.
“This is the first time ever that such a research is being undertaken in a foreign country by the British government. We are doing this to make travel more secure and have stronger relations between India and Britain. We want to make things simpler for legal migrants to Britain,” he said.
Among the measures under the new visa regime, Britain has proposed to curtail the family visa from six to three months and also seek a security of 1,000 pound (nearly Rs.80,000) from a British citizen for inviting a person on family visa to Britain.
The British government has also proposed a points system for working class visa seekers.
Scores of people have migrated from Punjab to Britain since the early 1940s. Though migration to Britain continues, illegal immigration has also been on the rise in recent years.
Britain has a 1.5 million-strong Indian community, especially from Punjab and Gujarat.
“The minister is not going to rush through with these strict proposals. The attempt is to save gullible people from being exploited by unscrupulous immigration agents,” Rami Ranger, an Asian member of the delegation, told reporters.
Byrne said the new visa scheme will be implemented only after seeking feedback from all quarters.