Hours after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the 17th edition of the G20 Summit on Tuesday, the United Kingdom (UK) government gave the go-ahead for 3,000 visas for young professionals from India to work there. In the Downing Street readout, the British government said India is the first visa-national country to benefit from the new UK-India Young Professionals Scheme, and highlighted the strength of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership agreed upon last year.
“Today the UK-India Young Professionals Scheme was confirmed, offering 3,000 places to 18-30-year-old degree-educated Indian nationals to come to the UK to live and work for up to two years,” the UK Prime Minister’s Office said in a tweet.
Sunak and Modi met for the first time on Tuesday after the first Indian-origin British PM assumed office last month.
The scheme will be reciprocal.
“The launch of the scheme is a significant moment both for our bilateral relationship with India and the UK’s wider commitment to forging stronger links with the Indo-Pacific region to strengthen both our economies,” Downing Street said in a statement.
It said the UK has more links with India than almost any country in the Indo-Pacific region. Nearly a quarter of all international students in the UK are from India, and Indian investment into the UK supports 95,000 jobs across the UK.
