UK ruling brings relief to HSMP visa holders

London: In a landmark judgement, the British High Court on Monday ruled that migrants who entered the UK before April 2006 under the original highly skilled migrant programme should be granted permanent residency after four years.

The ruling has brought cheer to thousands of highly skilled professionals including a large number of Indians working in the UK.

"This is a landmark judgement, now the government has to grant PR to people after four years or five years. It will affect about 40,000 people" says Executive Director, HSMP Forum, Amit Kapadia.

The original HSMP scheme, introduced in 2002, offered two benefits to the migrants:

Visa extensions based on economic activity alone

Avenue to settle down in the UK after 4 four years

However, in April 2006, the British government increased the qualifying period for permanent residency to five years.

In November the same year, a new points-based system, with a tougher eligibility criteria, replaced the original HSMP scheme. This meant that thousands of professionals under the old system failed to qualify for visa extensions.

Following a legal battle, the high court had in April last year ruled that the new rules cannot be applied retrospectively.

Following last year's ruling, most highly-skilled professionals were able to get their visas extended according to the original rules but the issue of permanent residency remained unresolved.

The migrants claim that was a benefit promised to them, but the government held that residency was not a guarantee. This latest judgement has clarified that.

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