India asks UK to give its citizens easy visa scheme

: India has reiterated its demand that the Theresa May government should extend to Indians its visa pilot scheme that provides easier, cheaper and longer duration visas to Chinese nationals, as Brexit talks move to focus on key immigration-related issues.

India is often mentioned among countries that the UK government is keen to forge a free trade agreement with in the postBrexit scenario. Informal talks have begun and New Delhi has conveyed that mobility will be at the top of its agenda.

India’s high commissioner YK Sinha asked home secretary Sajid Javid to consider visa-free travel for diplomats, and to extend the visa pilot project running in China to India, people familiar with the matter said. Its extension to India was expected during the April visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but was not announced.

Sinha met Javid and leading figures in the May government, including foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and international development secretary Penny Mordaunt, at a reception hosted by Conservative Friends of India during the party’s annual conference in Birmingham this week.

“He (Sinha) hoped that the UK foreign secretary would be able to visit India soon. He concluded by assuring everyone that India, as the fastest growing large economy in the world, was prepared to take the bilateral relationship to the next level, as UK exits the European Union,” a spokesperson of the high commission said.

The pilot project is among immigration-related issues that periodically create swings in the relationship between the two countries. They include the matter of returning what London considers a large number of illegal Indians in the UK.

Highly skilled Indian professionals are likely to be extended easier visa norms when the May government puts in place plans to privilege skills in the post-Brexit scenario.

LONDON