The UK government has been a acute labour shortage, with London at the centre of the problem. According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 1,225,000 job vacancies, a 54 percent rise on pre-COVID levels. “So despite the net immigration rise, the door remains open for skilled workers,” an immigration expert cited.
How acute is the crisis?
Currently, sectors like hospitality, tourism, technology and aviation businesses particularly are in dire need of skilled workers. As per official data, due to Brexit and the pandemic, 196,000 international workers left the hospitality sector. Many of these were in London.
The problem is so acute that British businesses last month pointed out to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt that failure to tackle workforce shortages might turn out to be damaging for the economy in the short and long term.
How the UK is trying tackle the issue?
Amid this scenario, the U.K. is looking at overseas to fill in these gaps and India becomes an important country for it for skilled workers. Recently, the UK and India signed the new youth mobility partnership scheme that will offer as many as 3,000 visas to young professionals from India to live and work in the UK each year.
Citing the same, Yash Dubal, director at A Y & J Solicitors, a London-based visa and immigration specialist said, “The UK is in need of skilled workers and competition to hire them is fierce. Indian IT workers, in particular, are highly sought after due to the close ties between the UK and India. Despite an increase in net migration to the UK and some political concerns about the number of international students and their dependents in the country, the door remains open for skilled workers and the number of skilled worker visas is uncapped.”
Still few are complaining of …
However many people seeking work visas have recently cited that the UK immigration system is complicated and difficult to navigate, with many rules and criteria to follow.
