The Hindu : International / India & World : U.K. defends law on doctors

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 14, 2007
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International

International - India & World

U.K. defends law on doctors

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: British immigration authorities on Tuesday defended the new tougher immigration rules for doctors from non-European countries.

"It is part of a continuing process" to meet new requirements," they said.

More than 15,000 overseas doctors, mostly from India, face an uncertain future as a result of new rules, which bar government hospitals from hiring doctors from outside the E.U. unless they demonstrated that suitable local candidates are not available.

The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), has described the decision to apply them retrospectively to doctors who are already here as "arbitrary" and "unjust."

But last week, the High Court upheld the rules and the BAPIO has challenged the ruling in the Appeals Court.

Mark Sedwill, head of U.K. Visas, a joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office enterprise, said at a press meet: "There will always be changes to immigration rules. It is part of the continuing process to meet new challenges and requirements. People who come in under HSMP [Highly-Skilled Migrant Programme] fail to meet the criteria of finding work in that sector will be disappointed, but the changes are to maintain the integrity of the system and make sure that they work in the same sector."

Mr. Sedwill said that under the new points-based immigration scheme people coming to Britain under HSMP will continue to be exempt from the requirement of work permit but their situation would be reviewed after two years to make sure that they were still working in the HSMP sector and had not switched to jobs falling under other categories.

The minimum probation period before they are allowed to claim residency would be increased from four years to five years, he said.

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