- Thursday, March 06, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
British prime minister Rishi Sunak has given his nod for 3,000 visas for young professionals from India to work in the UK every year.
His government said the South Asian nation is the first visa-national country to benefit from such an arrangement, emphasising on the strength of the migration and mobility partnership agreed upon by the UK and India 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.
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. pic.twitter.com/K6LlSDLne4
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) November 16, 2022
“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,” 10 Downing Street said in a statement.
It also said that the UK has more links with India than almost any other country in the Indo-Pacific region. Nearly a quarter of all international students in the UK are from India while Indian investment into the UK supports 95,000 jobs across the European nation.
The announcement came hours after Sunak met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the just-concluded G20 summit in Bali in Indonesia on Tuesday (15). It was the first meeting between the two leaders since Sunak became the British premier in October, succeeding Liz Truss.
“Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @RishiSunak in conversation during the first day of the @g20org Summit in Bali,” the Indian prime minister’s office said in a tweet.
Prime Ministers @narendramodi and @RishiSunak in conversation during the first day of the @g20org Summit in Bali. pic.twitter.com/RQv1SD87HJ
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) November 15, 2022
On Wednesday, Modi tweeted about his meeting with Sunak, saying, “Was great to meet PM @RishiSunak in Bali. India attaches great importance to robust ?? ?? ties. We discussed ways to increase commercial linkages, raise the scope of security cooperation in context of India’s defence reforms and make people-to-people ties even stronger.”
Was great to meet PM @RishiSunak in Bali. India attaches great importance to robust ?? ?? ties. We discussed ways to increase commercial linkages, raise the scope of security cooperation in context of India’s defence reforms and make people-to-people ties even stronger. pic.twitter.com/gcCt35m1uw
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 16, 2022
The UK is currently negotiating a trade deal with India, which recently faced some hindrances but both nations have strongly continued to back it which could see it becoming a reality in early 2023.
