UK visa norm to leave Indians jobless

Epsom: If a new points-based system is implemented in Britain hiring overseas workers will get tougher as migration will become more difficult.

CNN-IBN finds out its impact on the 3 billion pound Indian restaurant industry in Britain.

Enam Ali started his restaurant in Epsom nearly 20 years ago. His staff of 16 comes from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. But when the new points based system of immigration comes into place, he will be unable to hire any more workers from the subcontinent.

Ali, who also heads the guild of Bangladeshi restaurateurs an association of Indian restaurants in the UK, says that there are about 16 to 20,000 vacancies in the industry at present.

He says that the governments suggestion of hiring east Europeans is not a practical solution.

“In majority of our kitchens its Urdu, Hindi or Bengali. That is the culture. We have to have communication. If someone from Poland comes, how will he communicate? If chef asks for haldi how will he know? Who has the time to teach, if we start we wont have any customers left," says Ali, Guild of Bangladeshi Restaurateurs.

The new points system puts chefs under tier two, same as nurses and teachers. This requires at least A- level equivalent qualifications. Low skilled staff comes under tier 3. They can come only for a specific shortage and have to leave at the end of their stay.

“Also they need NVQ, which is A-level qualification. Now majority of our chefs are not skilled by qualification. They are skilled by experience,” said Ali.

The industry is not giving up. They are lobbying with some Asian MPs and the debate has reached the Houses of Parliament.

“We have some of the best South Asian restaurants in the world. It is sad that at the time when they are telling us that there is a shortage of chefs, we are making it difficult for them. They contribute hugely- 2.5 to 3 billion pounds. They have 20,000 vacancies in the 12,000 restaurants at present,” says Keith Vaz, Member of Parliament.

It is not just the 12,000 Indian restaurants, but the same number of Chinese restaurants that are going to be impacted by the new points based system.

The government says they should hire low skilled workers from Eastern Europe but that doesn't seem a practical option given the language and cultural differences.

Though they are asking the government to be more flexible, but the new system has taken some of the spice out of the curry.