UK to offer 3,000 visas to Indians: Here are sectors with most job potential

Amid a massive labour shortage in the UK, the Rishi Sunak government has given a go-ahead to the new youth mobility partnership scheme that offer as many as 3,000 visas to young professionals from India to live and work in the UK each year.

The scheme was launched by Sunak as part of the UK's Indo-Pacific focus at the G20 Summit in Bali, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was signed as part of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) last year and will now be formally launched in early 2023. 

“I know first-hand the incredible value of the deep cultural and historic ties we have with India,” said Sunak, Britain’s first Indian-origin Prime Minister.

“I am pleased that even more of India’s brightest young people will now have the opportunity to experience all that life in the UK has to offer – and vice-versa - making our economies and societies richer,” he said. 

The launch of the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme is dubbed a “significant moment” for the bilateral relationship and the UK’s wider commitment to forging stronger links with the Indo-Pacific region. Here is all that you need to know about the new visa scheme. 

What is the new youth mobility partnership scheme? 

Under the new youth mobility partnership scheme, as many as 3000 young Indian professionals will be offered visas every year to stay and work in the country for up to two years. The reciprocal scheme will also involve British nationals living and working in India. 

After it was signed, Downing Street asserted that it makes India the first visa-national country to benefit from such a scheme. The deal comes at a time when the country is facing a massive labour shortage. 

Which sectors are witnessing labour shortage? 

Currently, sectors including hospitality, construction, and manufacturing are facing labour shortages in the country.

Pointing at the labour shortage, earlier this week, British businesses urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to relax immigration rules in the country. Business failure to tackle workforce shortages might turn out to be damaging for the economy in the short and long term.

“A desperate lack of workers is inflating wages and stopping firms growing,” Tony Danker, the director general of the CBI told The Guardian

How government can address the labour shortage issue? 

To offer a solution, businesses suggested, government’s shortage occupation list, which offers easier work visas for overseas workers in specified jobs, could be expanded.

Student and graduate visa routes could also be added, as well as visas linked to specific economic projects.