Two days after United Kingdom Prime Minister's Office stated that it's not looking to exclude foreign students from their net immigration cap, India's Acting High Commissioner to the UK said that Theresa May's visit to India could lead to a deal between the two countries over short-term visas for students and others, including academicians and businessmen.
"I hope we will have a deal on Britain facilitating short-term visas for students, academicians and businessmen from India and these categories should not be in the migration list," Dinesh Patnaik, Acting High Commissioner to the UK, told reporters.
Theresa May's visit to India on November 6 is the first such trade deal outside of the European Union since she took office. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Theresa May during the G20 Summit where they discussed about "building opportunities." It was their first bilateral meeting since Brexit.
"It is an official visit and she will be heading a high-level 160-strong delegation. The trade delegation also assumes importance because of the Brexit scenario," said Patnaik.
He also said that India wants ease of doing business with the UK and access to the country for students, academicians and businessmen.
UK's former Business Secretary Vince Cable recently said that Theresa May's direct intervention led to the failure of India-EU free-trade deal as she was "obsessed" with bringing down net immigration.
Patnaik said that India wants the UK to extend concessions given to Chinese i.e. six months to two years visa for 87 pounds. Currently, Indians have to pay £102 for stay up to 180 days, per visit.
