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The ballot to apply for the India Young Professionals Scheme visa opens today. Besides having strict requirements i.e., a degree qualification, it only has 2,400 visas available. This roughly equals 1 visa for every 60,000 - 80,000 eligible nationals.
While the UK labour market tightens, with several sectors struggling to hire workers, the 2,400 visas with stringent requirements is unlikely to provide much relief.
What is the India Young Professionals Scheme visa?
Under the UK – India trade agreement, the UK government, back in May 2021 introduced a scheme allowing Indian nationals to live and work in the UK for up to 24 months. The scheme is under the wider umbrella of the Youth Mobility Schemes opened to nationals of limited countries.
To be eligible for the Indian scheme, the Indian national must be:
- aged 18 – 30;
- have at least a qualification at bachelor’s degree level;
- have £2,530 in savings; and
- not have any children under the age of 18.
A hopeful applicant must first enter a “ballot” to be eligible for the India Young Professionals Scheme visa. The current ballot has 2,400 visas available. The ballot opens at 9:00am GMT on 28 February 2023 and closes at 9:00am on 2 March 2023. The ballot can be entered here.
The Indian Perspective
It is fair to say that the numbers are a bit distressing for any hopeful applicants. India currently has a population of around 1,400,000,000. As a rough indication, there are currently around 160,000,000 students enrolled in higher education in India with additional eligible graduates out of higher education up to the age of 30.
The estimate would be that there is approximately 1 visa available for every 60,000 - 80,000 eligible Indian nationals. Any hopeful might as well try their luck with the lottery!
In comparison, under the Youth Mobility visa, Australia (56 times less population than India) has been allocated 30,000 visas and Monaco (39,000 times less population than India) has been allocated 1,000 visas.
Additionally, the scheme does not come cheap as the applicant must pay the £259 UKVI application fee and the £940 Immigration health Surcharge. Moreover, the applicant must show savings of £2,530 to support themselves. The hefty sums involved could be a deterrent to many applicants applying.
The UK Perspective
Rishi Sunak, the U.K. prime minister, said: “I am pleased that even more of India’s brightest young people will now have the opportunity to experience all that life in the U.K. has to offer — and vice-versa — making our economies and societies richer."
The UK PM hopes for this scheme to make the UK economy stronger but it is doubtful as the low numbers of visas available and the stringent requirements mean that it would be little to no comfort for the sectors struggling to hire low-skilled workers.
The UK economy has been hit the by the pandemic and Brexit. Limited labour supply due to the end of free movement in the wake of Brexit has meant that especially the low-skilled sectors such as hospitality and retail are struggling with labour shortages.
Immigration policies are one way to tackle this challenge, however, the “minimum skill level” requirement to sponsor skilled workers means that many businesses are unable to utilise the labour supply from overseas. In wake of these challenges, the “Seasonal Worker route” was introduced to meet labour demand but unfortunately only limited to the horticulture and poultry production sector.
Conclusion
All is not lost as the framework of this scheme could be used to solve the crisis faced by the labour market at the moment. Whilst it would require reciprocal arrangements to be in place, it is a perfect opportunity to introduce a similar scheme for young EU nationals allowing them to work unsponsored roles for a limited period. This idea is not new and was put forward by our head of department, Nicolas Rollason back in October 2021. 16 months later, the labour shortage problem does not seem to have gotten any better.
Despite the obvious shortcomings, the India Young Professionals Scheme is a positive step as India becomes the first visa national country to benefit from a Youth Mobility scheme. But Mr. Sunak must look into developing new visa schemes which will address current skills shortages in the UK.
Further information
If you have any questions regarding this blog, please contact a member of the immigration team.
About the authors
Marcia joined as a partner in the immigration team in January 2014. She has practised in the area of immigration, nationality and European law since 1998. She has had a long career in the field of immigration and is incredibly passionate about this area of law. She has won a number of challenges against the Home Office regarding complex cases, which have resulted in discretionary leave for her clients.
We welcome views and opinions about the issues raised in this blog. Should you require specific advice in relation to personal circumstances, please use the form on the contact page.
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