UK gets new Visa rules, Indians to face trouble

New Delhi : In a bid to control soaring immigration figures, the UK government has announced changes in its current visa policy for the non-EU nationals; the major impact of these changes will be on IT professionals from India. 

The new changes will be applied from November 24 this year.

New Rule: Anyone applying under the Tier 2 intra-company transfer (ICT) category would be required to meet a higher salary threshold requirement of 30,000 pounds from the earlier 20,800 pounds.

This rule is majorly used by Indian IT companies in the UK and as per figures shown by UK's Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), 90 per cent of Indian visas are issued under ICT. 

The changes come just days before British Prime Minister Theresa May lands in India on Sunday for her three-day visit.

"The first of two phases of changes to Tier 2, announced by the government in March following a review by the Independent Migration Advisory Committee, will affect applications made on or after November 24 unless stated otherwise," a UK Home Office statement said.