6% rise in visas from India to U.K.: Envoy

Says 3,95,000 visas processed in 2016

“There has been a 6% increase in the number of visas processed from India to the U.K.,” Bharat Joshi, British Deputy High Commissioner, said here on Friday.

Speaking at The Queen’s birthday party held here, Mr. Joshi said they had processed 3,95,000 visas last year. There had been a spike in the number of work visas too.

“As far as student visas are concerned, there was a decline sometime back, but even those have seen an increase of 2% last year,” he added.

During British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit in November, deals worth more than £1 billion were signed, over a third of which came from Chennai. “The U.K. is the largest G20 investor in India and the biggest job creator through FDI. Between 2000 and 2016, the U.K. invested £19.31 billion in India and created 3,71,000 jobs.