Over 30,000 Indians currently facing an uncertain future in the United Kingdom owing to recent changes in the immigration rules, on Wednesday said they hoped Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would raise the issue with Chancellor Gordon Brown when the two leaders meet in New Delhi on Thursday.
"We hope and believe that Chancellor Brown would not only think in terms of bringing new investments from India into UK but also ensure justice to over 30,000 highly skilled Indians currently facing uncertain future because of changes effected in the immigration law by the UK government recently," Amit Kapadia, organiser of Highly Skilled Migrants Programme Group said.
The group has already sent an appeal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in the matter. The 30,000 Indians, who came to UK under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, are likely to lose their jobs and be forced to return to their country under the modified rules of the programme.
"We came after making innumerable sacrifices and spending their life time savings but we have become victims of new immigration rules being implemented with retrospective effect, thus breaking the very promises held out to HSMP visa holders by the UK Home Office."
Lord Bhukhu Parekh in a statement said: 'A lot of these very talented people came to this country after borrowing money or giving up their jobs on a certain promise made by the British government. This kind of change in rules mid-stream will only damage Britain's reputation outside.'
Labour parliamentarian and Commissioner for Ethnic Minority Task Force Keith Vaz described the changes in the immigration rules as 'unfair and not good for Indo-UK ties.'
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