The United Kingdom may offer to loosen visa regulations for Indians in exchange for a trade deal, the proposal likely to be put on the table by international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan during talks in Delhi later this month, The Times, London reported on Saturday.
The details of the UK offer are still being worked out and could involve everything from allowing students to work in the country following completion of their studies to slashing the sky-high visa charges for all Indians that are a deterrent to anyone travelling to Britain.
The UK has always stonewalled Indian demands in earlier rounds of trade talks to relax its visa regime and has instead tightened them to extraordinary levels in recent years.
Amongst the options being worked out by the UK government is one to let students to work in the country after getting their degrees there. There are even proposals to allow young qualified Indians to work in the country for up to three years. This would be similar to an agreement struck with Australia recently under which Australians can work in Britain.
Importantly, the UK is also looking at cutting visa charges for all categories of travellers including students, people seeking work and business visas and also tourists.
Indians who want to travel to the UK have to fork out huge amounts. A work visa costs around 1,400 pounds and even students have to pay 348 pounds. Tourist visas are around 95 pounds (around Rs 9,500). India which believes in imposing reciprocal charges also charges British tourists 110 pounds and UK citizens who want a one-year business visa have to pay 165 pounds.
There are expected to be fierce cabinet battles before the final UK offer is placed on the table. The Times reported that the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, who controls immigration policies, is likely to oppose any loosening of visa regulations. Ranged against her is the new Foreign Secretary Lyn Truss who’s expected to bat in favour of relaxing visa rules in order to win a trade agreement with New Delhi. However, The Times reported that ministers accepted that any trade deal with India could only come if Britain made concessions on the visa front.
Britain has been eager to strike trade deals with different countries in wake of its decision to quit the European Union in January with dismal results so far. India has been high on its priority list.
In 2018, British officials said they were optimistic about a trade pact with India but observers said they were pursuing “a fantasy” unless they agreed to loosen visa regulations.
The UK has claimed it can strike independent trade deals around the world that would have been impossible if it had stayed in the EU.
On Friday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to go “further and faster” in the pursuit of trade agreements and make use of new opportunities he believes have emerged since Britain’s exit from the EU or Brexit as it’s known. “The job isn’t finished and we must keep up the momentum” in 2022, he declared. So far, Britain has struck trade deals with several countries but it has not landed the bigger ones like the US, China and India.
For its part, India would need to reduce duties on key items like Scotch whisky. Scotch whisky is a major export for the UK and India levies duties of around 150 per cent on it. The UK is also lobbying for easier entry into India for its tech and other service industry companies.
The Times quoted a government official who said: “The tech and digital space in India are still hugely protectionist and if we could open up even a slither of access it would put us ahead of the game.”
Companies like Amazon and Walmart have, of course, already have a huge presence in the Indian market.
The UK sees India as a key market even though other British companies like Vodafone and Cairn Energy have encountered major difficulties here in areas like taxation.
