During his visit to India, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made it clear that the UK will not be relaxing its visa rules for Indian citizens — despite growing trade and cultural ties between
the two countries.
Sir Keir arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday, greeted with a guard of honour as he stepped off his plane. He’s leading a high-profile delegation of over 100 business leaders, cultural figures, and university vice-chancellors, all aiming to strengthen trade, investment, and cooperation between the UK and India.
Speaking to reporters before landing, Sir Keir highlighted the “massive opportunities” for partnership between the two nations but drew a firm line when it came to immigration.
“The issue is not about visas,” he said. “It’s about business-to-business engagement, investment, jobs, and prosperity coming into the United Kingdom.”
The UK and India signed a major trade agreement in July after years of negotiation. The deal promises cheaper exports for UK-made cars and whisky heading to India, and reduced costs for Indian textiles and jewellery entering the UK. It’s expected to deliver a multi-billion-pound boost to both economies.
As part of the agreement, Indian employees working in the UK on short-term visas will get a three-year exemption from social security payments — but the government insists this doesn’t signal any broader change in immigration policy.
The Labour government has recently toughened its stance on migration, announcing new restrictions on settlement status at its party conference last week. Sir Keir reaffirmed that visas “played no part” in the trade deal and that the government’s position remains unchanged.
When asked if the UK might follow the US in trying to attract more tech talent — after President Donald Trump’s changes to the H-1B visa — Sir Keir said Britain wants to draw “top talent” from around the world. However, he repeated that there are no new visa routes planned for India.
Among the companies joining the trip are British Airways, which announced a new third daily flight between Delhi and Heathrow starting next year, and Manchester Airport, which will soon open a direct route to Delhi.
Sir Keir is set to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the two-day visit. Ahead of the meeting, Modi made headlines for sending birthday greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin — something Starmer was quick to distance himself from.
“Just for the record, I haven’t sent birthday congratulations to Putin, nor am I going to,” he told reporters. “I don’t suppose that comes as a surprise.”
Asked whether he planned to confront Modi over India’s ongoing purchases of Russian oil, Sir Keir said the UK’s priority was tackling Russia’s “shadow fleet” — a network of unregulated tankers transporting Russian oil.
“The UK has been one of the lead countries in taking action on the shadow fleet,” he said.