It’s high time India updated its emigration Act

India’s Emigration Act is four-decades old and does not factor in the recent patterns and challenges in migration

On December 13, Rishi Sunak, the Indian-origin United Kingdom Prime Minister, tweeted that a new, dedicated, and unified Small Boats Command Centre will police the English Channel. It was one of the major measures adopted by Sunak to tackle illegal immigration. However, migrants’ crossings on dangerous DIY (do-it-yourself) boats made of plywood with tiny engines, probably from the French coast, haven’t stopped.

Official statistics from London reveal that 45,755 people were detected arriving by small boats in 2022. In 2021, it was only 28,526. In 2018, on an average, there were only seven people on a boat — over the years this has been increasing to: 11 in 2019, 13 in 2020, 28 in 2021, and 41 in 2022, thereby increasing the risk of sinking.

Statistics suggests that Indians are second, a few hundred behind Afghans in terms of the number of people who risk their lives on small boats to cross the English Channel illegally to enter the United Kingdom. Between January 1 and March 31, the largest number of illegal entrants were Afghans (909 or 24 per cent), followed by Indians (675 or 18 per cent).

As per the United Kingdom’s Illegal Migration Bill which is in the making, the migrants who enter the country through illegal channels will be either sent to Rwanda, or their home country, with a lifelong ban on entering the UK.

Spearheading the Bill, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, said,” You will not be allowed to stay. You will be returned home if safe, or to a safe third country like Rwanda. It’s the only way to prevent people from risking their lives and paying criminals thousands of pounds to get here.” The Bill, introduced to parliament on March 7, is now in the House of Lords.

The ‘Missing’ Act

With this in the background, it is important to look at how India treats the subject of emigration. It is clear that India must immediately update its 40-year-old Emigration Act, 1983.

In 2019, there was an attempt to update the Act, but it failed to get Parliament's approval. Two years later, a fresh version came in the form of the Emigration Bill 2021. Suggestions were sought from the public and civil society organisations, but not much has been heard about it since then.

Interestingly, during the Parliament session in March, the Ministry of External Affairs acknowledged the need for an updated Emigration Act to handle migration-related issues.

But it stated that the ministry was still in the process of creating a preliminary version of the Emigration Bill after consulting with all concerned parties.

This laidback approach of the Indian government must be juxtaposed with the proactive approach of the UK in bringing laws to control irregular migration to the country.

It is true that the high levels of unemployment force Indians to migrate even through risky routes. But the fact is that in addition to failing to provide decent jobs in India the government is also failing to provide safe, orderly, and regular migration opportunities in the absence of an updated Emigration Act.

India's unemployment rate increased in April to 8.11 per cent from 7.8 per cent in March. The unemployment rate has been on an upward trend since the start of 2023, recording an increase for the fourth consecutive month.

Student migration

India today tops the list of foreign students granted visas in the UK. The latest figures from the UK reveal that there were 139,539 study visas granted to Indian nationals in 2022—three years prior to that, in 2019, 34,361 students visas were granted, which is a 307 per cent jump. Chinese students who were issued 102,842 student visas in 2022 are a close second to India. Together, the Asian neighbours comprise half of all sponsored study grants.

Parliament data reveals that a little over 750,000 students migrated to study in foreign universities in 2022. In 2021, the number was at 444,553 — an increase of ~68 per cent.

One would imagine that with such high volumes of students going abroad yearly, India’s external affairs ministry would be on the job. Shockingly, the Emigration Bill 2021 doesn’t cover student migration. This is even more surprising because the Draft Emigration Bill 2019 covered student migration, ways to streamline it, and solutions to address the risks.

In short, when Indians are trying to cross the English Channel to enter the UK illegally and when students are falling prey to fraud education consultancies, India’s emigration laws are awaiting a long overdue update.

(Rejimon Kuttappan is a journalist, and author of Undocumented. Twitter: @rejitweets)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.