· A lobbying group, which pushes for greater curbs on Britain’s immigration regime, has accused multinational IT companies, typically based in India, of exploiting a gaping loophole in Britain’s immigration system, and has called for the system to be overhauled.
· In a report, Migration Watch said that a small number of multinational IT companies were exploiting a system intended to post senior executives to and from the U.K. to bring thousands of migrant workers to fulfil contracts with private and public sector organizations which is known as third-party contracting and usually involves an international IT company, obtaining a contract to deliver a project or support services to a U.K. entity and then staffing it with workers from the company’s home country.
· Though part of the Tier 2 visa category, intra-company transfers (ICTs) are not subject to a cap, and have over time represented an increasing share of the Tier 2 work visas.
· About 58,000 of 94,000 Tier 2 work permits issued in 2017 were via the ICT route.
· The companies are accused of undercutting British competitors and reducing opportunities for British IT professionals to work and develop skills.
· Britain’s immigration regime has become an increasingly contentious area: while those on the Right have pressed for tougher restrictions, industry and others have expressed concerns that even the existing system could threaten Britain’s ability to remain open to business and talent.
· The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) published a report calling for the government to scrap immigration targets because Intra-company transfers hugely benefit the U.K. boosting investment by international companies and creating jobs in the U.K.
· The suggestion that international talent was cutting U.K. domestic skills is also rejected by TechUK, a trade body.
· While it is right that the industry continues to build United Kingdom’s domestic skills pipeline, maintaining routes that allow businesses to get the workers they need, where and when they need them, is critical to the tech sector and its economy.
Source : The Hindu