New UK visa to woo Indian entrepreneurs

Britain will introduce a new category of visa - Entrepreneur Visa - to encourage foreign nationals from India and elsewhere to catalyse economic recovery in the country, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

Speaking before businessmen and entrepreneurs, Cameron said not enough was being done to attract the next generation of wealth creators and job makers to Britain.

Referring to recent Home Office research that showed many professionals from India and elsewhere who entered Britain under the highly skilled category were in fact doing unskilled work, he said the Tier one category "was a total failure".

Cameron said: "I can announce today that we will create a new Entrepreneur Visa. These Entrepreneur Visas will mean that if you have a great business idea, and you receive serious investment from a leading investor, you are welcome to set up your business in our country."

He added: "So as we act to bring net migration to Britain down to the tens of thousands, I want this message to be heard loud and clear the whole world over: In every classroom or laboratory where a bright idea is born, every bedroom where a business case is put together, if you've got an idea, if you want to create jobs, and if you have the ambition to build a world beating company here in the UK."

He continued: "We want you; we'll make it easy for you; we'll put out the red carpet for you. With our new Entrepreneur Visa we want the whole world to know that Britain wants to become the home of enterprise and the land of opportunity."

Professionals entering Britain under the highly skilled category and ending up doing unskilled work, Cameron said, was "wrong and it's got to change".

The Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition introduced the controversial cap of 24,100 non-EU migrants until April 2011, by when a permanent limit will be imposed.

He said: "So as we introduce our limit and reduce non-EU economic migration, we will reform tier one to make sure that it is genuinely a route only for the best."

Cameron announced in the House of Commons last week that the Inter-Company Transfers (ICT) category of visa, which is widely used by Indian companies with office and branches in the UK, will not be affected by the current review of immigration rules.