UK Home Office statistics have revealed an increasing proportion of Asian nationals using the UAE as a stepping stone en route to settling in the UK.
“In the past five years, a staggering 32 per cent of all longer-term visa applications to the UK from Dubai were from the Asian subcontinent and this trend is growing,” says St. John Cornwell-Menzies, Director, E2W, a law firm specialising in UK immigration matters with offices in London and Dubai.
“In 2008, 757 long-term visa applications came from this region, compared to 2012 when there were 1,071. Many of our clients are of Indian descent; they are skilled professionals living and working in Dubai or Abu Dhabi who see the UK as their next career or residential step,” he adds.
Beverley Kumar, a Dubai resident looking to secure long-term visas for the UK for her family, explains: “My children have been schooled in Dubai and I would like to have a base in the UK for them during their tertiary education, as well as a UK passport, which provides ease of travel throughout Europe without the red tape.”
Kumar is not alone. “Many professionals prefer to send their offspring to UK-based universities both for their strong international reputations and the availability of more university places in the UK compared to India,” says Cornwell-Menzies.
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