Do Indians really overstay in UK? What did the British home secretary say?

A war of words has broken out between India and the United Kingdom over comments made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The British minister in an interview with the magazine The Spectator voiced concerns about the impending free trade agreement (FTA) to be signed by Diwali, as it could increase immigration.

Her comments prompted an immediate counter from the Indian side.

Braverman’s remarks put her at risk of upsetting 10 Downing and the British prime minister Liz Truss , who is very keen on signing the deal with India by the end of this month. There are now new concerns that Braverman is likely to withhold Cabinet backing for any visa concessions for India as part of an FTA.

We take a look at what Braverman said and how India countered it.

Braverman’s comments

Indian-origin Suella Braverman , UK’s home secretary, in a recent interview to The Spectator said that she had reservations about the upcoming trade deal with India, saying that an open-border migration policy with the country would be contrary to what the Brexit vote stood for.

“Look at migration in this country – the largest group of people who overstay are Indian migrants. We even reached an agreement with the Indian government last year to encourage and facilitate better co-operation in this regard. It has not necessarily worked very well,” said Braverman in the interview.

Braverman was referring to the Migration and Mobility Partnership signed by her predecessor at the Home Office Priti Patel and Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in May last year. The deal allows up to 3,000 Indians between the ages of 18 and 30 to live and work in the UK for two years annually.

She added that she had concerns about having an open borders migration policy with India because “I don’t think that’s what people voted for with Brexit”.

Incidentally, Braverman’s comments about Indian migrants to The Spectator comes just three after she had blamed ‘uncontrolled migration’ for the recent riots in Leicester .

Speaking at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham on 4 October, Braverman said, as per a PTI report, “The unexamined drive towards multiculturalism as an end in itself combined with the corrosive aspects of identity politics has led us astray. I saw this when I went to Leicester recently. A melting pot of cultures and a beacon of religious harmony. But even there, riots and civil disorder have taken place because of failures to integrate large numbers of newcomers. Such conflict has no place in the UK.”

India’s counter

In response to Suella Braverman’s remarks, the Indian High Commission said that “comments on these matters may not be appropriate given that the negotiations are underway, and that any arrangement will include issues of interest to both sides”.

It also countered Braverman’s comments on Indian ‘overstayers’ and said that action had been taken.

In a statement, the Indian High Commission said: “As part of our wider discussions under Migration and Mobility, the government of India is committed to work with the government of UK to facilitate the return of Indian citizens who have overstayed their visa period here in the UK.

It further added, “As per data shared with the Home Office, as on date, action has been initiated on all of the cases referred to the High Commission. Further, UK has also undertaken to fulfill certain commitments as part of the Migration and Mobility Protocol, on which we await demonstrable progress.”

As per Home Office statistics, 20,706 Indians had overstayed their visas in 2020, higher than any other nationality. Of the 4,73,600 Indians whose visas were due to expire in the 12 months to March 2020, 4,52,894 are known to have left, meaning 4.4 per cent of them overstayed their visa.

Indians in UK

For years, Indians have been the largest cohort of non-European Union immigrants in the UK.

In 2020, Indians were granted more sponsored skilled-worker visas than any other group; in the IT sector, nearly three in five visas went to Indians.

Healthcare is another important sector for immigrants. As of September 2021, more than 32,000 Indians were the largest foreign group working in the National Health Services (NHS), second only to Brits themselves.

In 2021, the two countries even signed an ambitious new migration partnership, in an aim to make a major leap in the UK’s bilateral relationship with India. Under this deal, UK will allow up to 3,000 Indians between the ages of 18 and 30 to live and work in the UK for two years annually. The two governments can choose to raise or lower this limit.

Indian students have also come to the UK in droves.

According to the most recent statistics, more than 98,000 Indian students came to the UK to study last year, up 90 per cent on the previous year.

Earlier in June, news agency PTI reported that more than one lakh Indian students had received a UK visa until then, an 89 per cent increase from the previous year. The rise in numbers resulted in India overtaking China as the country to which highest number of student visas were issued by the UK to study in its higher education institutions.

With inputs from agencies

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