Indian immigrants face harassment at British airports

A forum representing highly skilled workers have made a claim that Indian immigrants having permanent residency rights in the UK have been harassed and treated like criminals by British immigration officials while they were returning to the country from overseas trips.

The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) Forum said in a statement that immigration officers at airports have treated migrants from India and other non-European countries like criminals while they were re-entering the country.

As an example, it stated that a doctor named Sujit Nair, who was working in National Health Service since nine years, was ill-treated when he recently came back from his holiday from India.

Dr. Nair stated that when he arrived at the Glasgow airport, he was repeatedly questioned by immigration officers as well as police officers, in spite of the fact that he was having indefinite leave to stay in the UK. He said that on both occasions he felt really demoralized and unwelcome.

The Forum said that the interrogation done by the officers generally consist of questions which are not of any use to lawful skilled workers such as why was the holiday booked for only forty days. Why did the employer allow the vacation? What makes the person work for the company? Etc.

If immigration officers who question immigrants are not convinced that the concerned immigrant and his or her family is stating the truth then the whole family can be detained at the airport, their passports are seized and a temporary admission letter is provided to them which replace their actual legal long term visa.