Click to play videoLondon: Britain's favourite curry is in a bit of soup now. The new points-based immigration system has not just affected the migrant workers, but also those who work in the kitchens of Britain's desi eateries.
Brick Lane in East London is the curry capital of Britain. The £3.5 billion curry industry in UK is now facing a severe shortage of workers. That’s because the country's new immigration rules is making it difficult for low-skilled workers from the Indian subcontinent, the traditional workforce of the curry houses, to get visas.
Popular restaurants like Cafe Naz are facing the threat of closure.
“I have got restaurants and I can’t get the right staff together. If you don't have the staff you can’t run a restaurant,” owner of the restaurant Muquim Ahmed says.
It’s estimated the curry houses give employment to more than 50,000 workers. Most of them are recruited directly from the sub continent — India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The British government wants these jobs to go to migrants from the EU. But the restaurateurs say they lack the cultural sensitivity to work in the kitchens.
Under the new points-based system, Tier 3 allows lower-skilled workers to fill temporary shortages in the labour market. But this scheme has been suspended until the end of 2008 and is biased towards EU migrants.
“It now seems that the government has no plans to include the scheme for Non-EU migrants. This will be a death knell to the restaurants that rely on hiring people from outside,” Chief Executive Immigration Advisory Service Keith Best says.
Restaurateurs are now urging the government to make special concessions for them. The government's own migration advisory committee is due to submit a report in the next few weeks.
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