UK links India’s refusal to sign MoU on illegal migrants to strict student visa norms
London, Jun 19: The UK government has directly linked the exclusion of Indian students from a list of countries offered easier visa norms to India’s refusal to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the return of illegal migrants.
Britain’s Secretary of State for International Trade, Liam Fox, said the reason India had been excluded from a newly-expanded list of countries from where overseas students can benefit from a more streamlined UK university application process was because the issue of Indian “overstayers” remained unresolved.
“This is a constant conversation we need to have with India. There is always a demand for easier norms, but we cannot look at that without addressing the issue of overstayers,” Fox said on the sidelines of the launch of UK-India Week in London on Monday.
