Call for visa restrictions to be lowered for Indian pharmacy students

A pharmacist who runs a chain of pharmacies in Cardiff has called for visa restrictions to be loosened for science students coming to the UK from India to study, particularly those studying pharmacy or medicine.

Speaking at the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence celebrations at Mansion House in Cardiff, Raj Aggarwal, who also runs online beauty retailer escentual.com and is an honorary consul to India, said that loosening visa restrictions for students would strengthen ties between India and the UK.

“Stronger ties with India must be forged as the UK is approaching Brexit. We must reduce visa restrictions for Indian students to study science and technology subjects at our top flight universities. Key subjects such as pharmacy and medicine are essential for India and at present it is becoming hard for Indians to get visas to study here,” he said. “These students will become ambassadors for Wales in India for future trade as well as being hugely lucrative for our universities.”

He reminded the audience at the event, attended by First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, that Indian Prime Minister Modi spoke of creating “a technological power house” in India for which he would need skilled workers with “a top flight education”.

“We must seize this opportunity now to ally Britain’s economic future with that of India so that we can vouchsafe the prosperity of the next generation,” he said.