Click to play videoLondon: Things just got tougher for highly skilled migrants planning to come to the UK. Britain this week raised immigration fee from £ 400 to £ 600. And migrants planning to extend their stay in the UK will have to pay £ 750, £ 400 more than the current charge.
Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants, Habib Rahman says, "It's very difficult for people to come now. It's deterrent to people from poorer countries like Asia and Africa and it's discriminatory in that way."
That's not all. Come March, the existing HSMP scheme will be replaced by a general highly skilled Migrants (GHSM) scheme under the new points-based immigration system.
Some advantages under the existing scheme will be lost and it is likely to become tougher to qualify given the stricter language, age and earnings requirements.
In a recent interview, the Immigration Minister, Liam Bryne defended the changes.
"We are trying to bring eight different categories into one," Bryne said.
Other visa categories have also seen marginal increase in fees. Work permit and long term visitor visa now costs £205 compared with £200 earlier. Fee for settlement visa is up from £500 to £515. Tourists and short term visitors will have to pay £65 as against £63 earlier.
While short term visitors face a marginal increase, it is once again the highly skilled migrants who are in for tougher times and who will be the most affected under the new stringent norms.
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