Chandigarh: Britian today said it has
benefited from the migration from India and elsewhere but
wants this to be controlled in order to maximise the benefits
and reduce the net immigration to the levels it saw in 1990s.
Visiting British Immigration Minister Damian Green said
his country was also evaulating the student visa provisions to
ensure they support the best and brightest who go to the UK
for higher studies and prevent those "who pretend to want to
study in order to work".
"I am here in India to explain the changes to the
UK`s immigration system and the reasons for them. Many highly
skilled people from Punjab and other parts of India have been
coming to the UK for years. Britian has benefited from this
migration and will continue to do so.
"But this migration must be controlled in order to
maximise the benefits--both for the UK and those who are
coming to work and live," Green told a press conference here
this evening.
He said the British Government was committed to reducing
migration to the UK "and we are currently consulting on
limiting economic migration".
"We have also decided to keep in place the zero limit on
unskilled migration. But our government continues to want to
attract the brightest and the best--the investors and the
entrepreneurs--the people that make our economies grow", Green
said.
He said "there is no contradiction in wanting to reduce
migration and wanting to encourage inward investment and
talented migrants. We can do both."
To a question, Green, who met Punjab Chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal and the DGP seeking their cooperation to
help stop illegal immigration from Punjab to the UK, said the
new immigration policy of Brtain will be in place by April
next year and sought to allay fears that the new cap on
skilled labour would act as a bar on skilled professionals.
Answering another querry, he said that on an average
currently 100 illegal Indian immigrants were being deported
back to their country every month while nearly 200 Indians
were lodged in various jails in the UK.
PTI
