British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the United Kingdom would not seek a visa agreement with India, emphasizing that his government’s focus remains on strengthening economic relations following this year’s bilateral trade deal.
He added that the focus remains on fostering economic growth and strengthening business partnerships rather than easing migration or mobility arrangements.
Starmer begins a two-day trip to India on Wednesday, bringing a trade mission of businesses to promote the trade deal, which was agreed in May, signed in July and due to come into effect next year.
Starmer said that visas had blocked up previous efforts to seal a trade deal, and that, having reached an agreement which had no visa implications, he didn’t wish to revisit the issue when he meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talks on Thursday.
Visa Not Part Of Plan
“That isn’t part of the plans,” he told reporters en route to India when asked about visas, adding the visit was “to take advantage of the free trade agreement that we’ve already struck”.
“Businesses are taking advantage of that. But the issue is not about visas.”
Starmer is trying to take a more restrictive stance on both immigration amid high public concern about the issue, as his Labour Party trails the populist Reform UK party in polls.
He said visas would not be on the table in order to attract tech sector professionals from India, after U.S. President Donald Trump hiked fees on H-1B visas, though he said more broadly he wanted to have “top talent” in Britain.
Asked if he would stop issuing visas to arrivals from countries who won’t take back foreign criminals or people wanted to deport, Starmer said it was a “non-issue” with India as there is a returns agreement, but it was something he would look at more broadly.
“We are looking at whether there should be a link between visas and returns agreements,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
