London: Indians are the third-largest group of migrants crossing into the UK over the English Channel on risky small boats so far this year, according to the UK Home Office. Officials are scrambling to find out what is driving the surge, which has prompted fears that “thousands more will follow” given the country’s population of 1.4 billion, The Times newspaper has reported.
In January, about 250 Indian migrants entered the UK by this means, outnumbering the 233 who arrived via small boats in the first nine months of last year. Indians now account for about a fifth of 1,180 migrants who have attempted the perilous crossing this year. Afghans were the most numerous, followed by Syrians.
One of the major reasons could be Serbia’s visa-free travel rules for Indians. This, according to the Home Office, is providing a getaway for them into Europe. Until December last year, all Indian passport holders could enter Serbia without a visa for up to thirty days.
The arrangement of permitting Indians to enter Serbia without a visa ended on January 1 as part of Serbia’s efforts to comply with EU visa requirements, resulting in some Indians travelling in small boats into the EU and then to the UK, as per the Home Office Officials.
“We have seen a spike of Indian nationals coming across in small boats over the last few months,” a Home Office source told The Times.
“It is a bit of a mystery but there’s some work showing that it could be an issue of Indians gaining visa travel into Serbia. The worry is that this is a longer-term trend with all the implications that hold of illegal migration from a country of more than 1 billion people.”
However, it is noteworthy that most Indians migrate to the EU – and cross the English Channel – for reasons of a better life, usually termed economic migration.
Furthermore, as per the Home Office, Indian students are taking advantage of a gap in asylum legislation that allows asylum seekers to study in the UK while paying domestic rather than international tuition fees. While their asylum application is under process, they can study for a degree and pay domestic fees, which are currently capped at £9,250.
Despite the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) guidance specifying that asylum seekers are not entitled to the “home rate” of tuition costs, few colleges and universities continue to charge them international fees.
There are also smugglers across the long journey, who help migrants cross the Channel in a small boat, costing around £3,500.
“It is cheaper to do this than the student visa route and it is probably more guaranteed,” a Border Force source told The Times.
A Border Force source said: “It’s cheaper to do this than the student visa route and it’s probably more guaranteed.”
However, as only 4% of Indian asylum claims are successful, students who choose this route are likely to risk deportation after their asylum claim is denied.
In 2015 and 2016, hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants, mostly fleeing conflict in the Middle East, passed via Greece, an EU member state, and carried on to nations such as Germany. It soon became known as the “Balkan route.”
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More migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have attempted to enter the European Union without proper documentation through the Balkans since 2017. Serbia is the only country in Europe that allowed Indians without any entry permits.
In the past, some Indian migrants have attempted to stay in Greece as well. The authorities in North Macedonia have often detained migrants trying to cross the border into the EU at the Greek border.
Other Indian migrants attempt to enter Croatia from Bosnia and Herzegovina, claiming that crossing the border between Serbia and Bosnia is rather straightforward. Dozens of Indians dwell at the Lipa migrant camp in Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Indian citizens make up the majority of migrants who overstay their visas in the UK. According to UK Immigration Statistics, 20,706 Indians overstayed their permit visas in 2020, more than any other nationality, however, other nations had a higher proportion.
“Our migration deal with India aims to enhance and accelerate the removal of Indian nationals with no right to stay in the UK and secure greater cooperation around organised immigration crime,” remarked one government official to The Times.
Now that the UK Home Office has identified an increase in Indian migrants crossing the Channel in tiny boats, it is likely that home secretary Suella Braverman’s determination not to offer Indians any further visa concessions will have a significant impact on the landmark trade deal between the two countries.
British home secretary Suella Braverman. Photo: Facebook/SuellaBravermanOfficial
She has directed Home Office staff to investigate what motivates Indians to sail to the UK on small boats, with initial hypotheses blaming Serbia’s visa-free travel offer to Indians, which they believe provided a “gateway” into Europe from which they would travel onward to Britain. A Border Force insider added, “If we understood why they were coming, we’d know how to stop it.”
This development has come at a delicate moment for the UK-India relationship.
Delhi has demanded more visas for students and business executives as part of the now-delayed trade deal expected to be signed between the two countries. Therefore, any clampdown on Indian migrants might not go down well and is likely to rekindle tensions with the Indian government. Rishi Sunak, the child of migrants from Africa and of South Asian origins, taking over as prime minister had unleashed euphoria in India as UK’s “first Hindu PM”, but it was always a stretch to imagine that by itself would improve ties and in fact could lead to its own complications. Braverman, the home secretary, is incidentally also of Indian origin but remains staunchly anti-immigration.
Kalrav Joshi is a multimedia journalist based in London. He writes on politics, culture, technology and climate. He tweets @kalravjoshi_.