Date-4th Feb 2005

Large numbers of Bangladeshi restaurants in the UK could be forced out of business unless the government relaxes visa restrictions which are hampering the industry’s ability to recruit low-skilled workers from the sub-continent. 

Frustrated restaurant owners say that their businesses are being strangled by government red tape which is preventing them from filling thousands of job vacancies in their kitchens. Yet, only 20 months ago, they thought their problems had been solved when the government introduced a special scheme to help businesses in the hospitality and food processing sectors to bring in workers from abroad on short-term contracts if they were unable to fill job vacancies from the UK labour market.The Sector Based Scheme (SBS) seemed to provide a lifeline for hundreds of Bangladeshi-owned restaurants which had been struggling to find people to work as kitchen porters and waiters.

Yet the scheme has now been labelled a flop by community leaders who accuse the government of reneging on its initial commitment. Enam Ali, chairman of the Guild of Bangladeshi Restaurateurs, said: “We’ve had the rug pulled from under our feet just when we thought we were getting somewhere. Staff recruitment has been our biggest headache in recent years so we were delighted when the government announced the SBS as a special measure to help us fill some of the lower skilled job vacancies.

” He continues, “Initially the scheme worked efficiently and fairly, and around 1,900 Bangladeshis were given 12-month visas to come to specific jobs in this country.However, most of them will have to return to Bangladesh over the next three months when their visas expire. And then we will be back where we started because the government is refusing to allow any more Bangladeshi workers into the country, Further to the Home Office announcement on 15 June 2004, the 20% limit on permits issued to nationals of Bangladesh has now been reached in the HOSPITALITY sector and this sector is therefore suspended for nationals of Bangladesh.  

Mr Ali believes that the problems have been building up over the past few months with immigration officials in Dhaka refusing the vast majority of visa applications from perfectly legitimate holders of SBS permits.  He says, “They came up with a whole raft of reasons for the rejections, most of which were plainly farcical. We are convinced that the High Commission had been given instructions to restrict the number of visas being issued.

” Applicants are allowed to appeal, but this can take six months and cost up to £1,000. The Guild says its members simply can’t afford that sort of delay or money and stress that unless the government lifts its restrictions,  many businesses will be forced to close because they won’t have the manpower to enable them to continue. 

The Guild is seeking an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary  to  clarify the position regarding the sector based scheme and  to make him aware of its  concerns for the future of an industry, which employs large numbers of people, both directly and indirectly.