MUMBAI: Britain will not pursue a visa deal with India, Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed during his visit to the country.
Starmer begins a two-day trip to India on Wednesday, bringing a trade mission of businesses to promote the trade agreement reached earlier this year.
The Prime Minister stated that visa issues had previously blocked efforts to seal a trade deal between the two nations.
He emphasized that the current agreement contains no visa implications and he does not wish to revisit the issue during his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.
“That isn’t part of the plans,“ he told reporters en route to India when asked about visas, adding the visit was “to take advantage of the free trade agreement that we’ve already struck”.
“Businesses are taking advantage of that. But the issue is not about visas.”
Starmer is adopting a more restrictive stance on immigration amid high public concern about the issue.
His Labour Party currently trails the populist Reform UK party in opinion polls regarding immigration policy.
The Prime Minister confirmed visas would not be used as an incentive to attract tech sector professionals from India.
This position comes after U.S. President Donald Trump recently hiked fees on H-1B visas for skilled workers.
Starmer stated more broadly that he wants to ensure Britain can attract “top talent” from around the world.
When asked if he would stop issuing visas to arrivals from countries who won’t take back foreign criminals or people wanted for deportation, Starmer called it a “non-issue” with India.
He noted that Britain and India already have a returns agreement in place for such cases.
“We are looking at whether there should be a link between visas and returns agreements,“ he said regarding broader immigration policy. – Reuters