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Migrants challenge U.K. visa regime

LONDON: The High Court here on Wednesday took up a judicial review of the controversial changes to the Highly-Skilled Migrants Programme (HSMP) that are likely to affect nearly 30,000 Indian migrants.

The changes, which were introduced in 2006 and are to be applied retrospectively to those who came here under the old rules, have been challenged on grounds that they are unfair and in breach of human rights.

The HSMP Forum, which has launched the challenge, claimed that 90 per cent of those who were eligible under the old scheme no longer qualified because of the retrospective application of new rules. It accused the British Government of playing with the lives of thousands of people who were lured by the promise of permanent settlement in Britain. “We have provided the court with hard evidence of hardship faced by Indians and other non-European Union immigrants and their families due to the discriminatory and inhuman changes imposed by the Home Office,” Amit Kapadia, a spokesman for the Forum said.

The changes, brought in following complaints of alleged abuse of the system, have been criticised by the Commission for Equality and Human Rights and by the Joint Committee of MPs and Peers on Human Rights.

Some 49,000 overseas professionals took advantage of the HSMP which was introduced in 2002 to attract talent in a range of areas of specialised skills. In November 2006, however, the rules were changed and they were asked to “re-qualify” if they wanted to stay on.

The government justifies the changes on the ground that there was widespread “abuse” of the system and that many who came under the HSMP switched over to low-skilled jobs. The new rules, it says, are meant to make sure that only those who can “benefit” Britain are allowed to live and work here.

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