Documents leaked from the European Commission reveal the true state of negotiations with India for the preferential admission of IT workers to the EU. The UK's quota for some worker categories is 40% of the entire EU commitment – almost three times that of Germany and almost seven times that of France. The Commission is preparing to offer India 35,000 to 50,000 work permits per year, for the categories of Independent Professionals (IPs) and Contractual Service Suppliers (CSS). This offer is part of the response to Indian demands for labour access, within the negotiations for an EU/India Free Trade Agreement being held in secret. While this is a figure for the number of visas the EU commits to offering, it does not limit how many a member state actually offers. An unidentified number of visas for a further category, 'Intracorporate Transferees' (ICTs), that is workers brought in to work for their Indian company in the EU, will be additional to these disproportionate quotas for the UK in the CSS and IP categories. With the Prime Minister's announcement this week that ICTs will be excluded from the government’s 'immigration cap', numbers for this category will not be subject to a UK limit. The breakdown between member states has been based on the share of the working population of each member state in the relevant sectors and on the share of member states in the total number work permits granted to Indian migrants in the past by EU members, taken together. The effect of this is that Britain's quota is 40% of the total while the UK population is only 12% of the EU. Britain would be committed to up to 20,000, Germany 7,000, France 3,000 and Italy 2,600. A footnote to the document reveals that some countries have insisted on a cap to Indian workers - ironically, most of them are new East European members. The negotiations are now well advanced and a deal may be finalised in next week's negotiating Round. Said Sir Andrew Green, Chairman Migrationwatch UK: ‘This looks suspiciously like a side door to Britain for 15,000 - 20,000 Indian IT workers every year. It is even more astonishing coming at a time when British IT workers are finding it increasingly difficult to find employment and there is a 17% unemployment rate amongst computer science graduates who left university last year. It is time to end the secrecy and for the government to come clean with what is going on and what, if any, safeguards are being put in place.’ See also Briefing Paper No 4.13 Sir Andrew said that "Nearly 100,000 work related visas were issued last year, a significant number compared to net immigration of about 200,000." "We must, of course, continue to admit key people but economic migration must take a share of the necessary reduction in immigration if our population growth is to be brought under control," he added. The Ministry of Justice has recently published a consultation paper on proposals to start charging fees for certain categories of appeals against adverse decisions by the UK Border Agency on asylum and immigration applications. Such appeals are heard in the first instance by the First Tier Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber and by the Upper Tier Tribunal beyond that. Section 42(1) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, under which the Tribunals are established, empowers the Lord Chancellor to impose fees in respect of anything dealt with by the Tribunals. The consultation paper has been circulated to organisations such as the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and other bodies concerned with the welfare of immigrants and asylum seekers or with assisting them in the conduct of their appeals. Responses to the consultation paper are invited and may be submitted up to 21 January 2011. For the full document see Briefing Paper No 8.47
Press Release
Brussels Leak Reveals Britain to Take Major Share of Indian IT Workers
8 November, 2010Comment
Response to the Home Affairs Committee Report on an immigration cap
4 November, 2010Briefing Papers
Proposals to Charge Fees for Immigration and Asylum Appeals
3 November, 2010
Monday, 8 November 2010
WE TOLD YOU YEARS AGO IMMIGRATION -POLITICAL FOOTBALL BETWEEN EU & U.K.
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