Letters: PM’s short-sightedness on visas for Indians
[Re: PM announcing no easing of immigration rules for Indians, January 5]
As an Indian migrant it was dismaying to hear the PM explain last week that the UK will not offer visa concessions to India in exchange for a free trade deal. Mr Johnson is being short-sighted. This knee-jerk capitulation to some of his backbenchers will damage the UK economy.
I am a migrant. I grew up in a poor Gujarati village and came to the UK with nothing. I built a successful immigration legal practice that now employs several people and has won awards. I have helped 4,000 plus people, largely from South Asia, gain UK work visas. They come here to work hard and are invaluable to the UK economy.
As an example, the immigrants who came to the UK in the 60s and 70s from South Asia to set up restaurants have since created a culinary industry worth over £10bn which exports all over the world.
The modern-day version of those curry pioneers are the entrepreneurial tech workers in Asia who, if lured to the UK, would create a world-beating digital sector here. The government should be throwing out the welcome mat, not shutting the door on them.
Yash Dubal