London, Dec 9: In Jan 2010, United Kingdom's tighter immigration rules come into effect making it tougher for Indian IT professionals to move to Britain under inter-company transfers.

Under United Kingdom's new immigration rule, IT workers will need 12 months" experience with their employer before they can be transferred to the UK. This is double the current requirement of six months experience.

The new visa rules also closes immigration category as a route to permanent settlement in UK. This comes as a major disappointment to the IT professionals who wish to settle in Britain after the stay of five years.

Further adding to the workers' woes, the Immigration officials have denied reports that the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category has a loophole which may work favourably for Indian IT companies.

Under this transfer, an employer can fill posts in UK operations by bringing across some of its existing foreign-based staff. This opens up jobs in the IT and other sectors for migrants who are paid less than resident workers.

However the Home Office chose to differ saying, “Workers coming to the UK in the Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) category must be paid the going rate."

OneIndia News