Calls for relaxation of conditions for foreign medical workers

Many healthcare workers in countries such as India find themselves abandoned as previously legitimate sponsors have their licenses revoked.

Posted by: Shajil Kumar

An online petition calling on the government to give foreign medical workers more time to find work after failing to get sponsorship gathered hundreds of signatures within days.

Under stricter rules that came into force earlier this month, care providers acting as sponsors for migrants in the UK will be required to register with the health and social care industry regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The government says this will tackle abuse. within the sector.

However, as a result of this crackdown, many innocent workers from countries such as India have been abandoned by their previously legitimate sponsors who have lost their licenses, leaving migrants with alternative employment opportunities in the sector. You have only 60 days to find it.

The petition, launched by UK-based expert Balakrishnan, says: “60 days is a very short time for families to make departure arrangements. Their children’s schooling has become unstable and their rent has been compromised. This could lead to the loss of deposits, security deposits, furniture costs, airline tickets, and moving expenses.” Balagopal.

“Some healthcare workers who have arrived in the UK have been left out of work because their sponsors were unable to offer them a job or there were no jobs available for them on arrival. Some companies has had his sponsorship license revoked due to his own mistakes…Our request is that the unemployed healthcare worker’s stay in the UK be extended for a further year to enable him to secure another job.”

The petition, launched on the UK Parliament’s website over the weekend, aims to highlight the pressing issue and will require a response from the government once it has collected 10,000 signatures.

Mr Balagopal said hundreds of health workers arrived in the UK from 2022 onwards to address shortages in the social care sector, finding themselves in a situation not of their own making. Many companies that had promised jobs lost their sponsor licenses due to mistakes beyond the workers’ control, and others found that the promised jobs never materialized.

Earlier this month, the Home Office revealed that care workers are being exploited by being offered visas under false pretenses and traveling thousands of miles to jobs that simply don’t exist or for wages well below the minimum wage required for the job. He announced that he had proof. . It sought to crack down on abuses of the system, including a ban on international care workers bringing dependents with them when they immigrate to the UK.

“Care workers make a tremendous contribution to our society by caring for loved ones in times of need. “There is no justification for inaction. It is neither right nor fair to allow this unacceptable situation to continue,” Home Secretary James Cleverley said.

Letters have started arriving to those affected in recent weeks, and the fallout from the crackdown is already affecting hundreds of workers in the country, left behind through no fault of their own. It is expected that

Last year, official figures showed that an estimated 140,000 visas were granted to overseas workers coming to the UK to address a shortage in the health and care sector, of which 39,000 went to Indian nationals. (PTI)