At a time when government has called to reduce Non EU migration with the upcoming Immigration Bill, and many are feeling disillusioned by the British government's response to immigration, Asians continue to be amongst those that government target to bring business to the UK. Indians particularly (86,706) were amongst the nationalities granted the most visas (excluding visitors and transit).
Family
Pakistan, India and Bangladesh were amongst the five nationalities with the highest number of visas granted for family reasons in the year ending September 2015.
At the same time, the Migrant Integration Policy Index indicated that the UK was the worst developed country for family-friendly immigration policies. The added income threshold to sponsor spousal visas, which many Asian families are dependent on, meant between 2011 and 2014, the number of Non-EEA family visas granted each year was reduced by 21%.
