Britain to let in 20,000 Indians every year: Report

London, Feb 20 (PTI) Britain is preparing to let insome 20,000 skilled Indian workers every year, a media reportsaid, citing secret documents.

The Indian migrants, most of them skilled informationtechnology professionals, are to be allowed into the UK everyyear under the multi-billion-pound European Union-India FreeTrade Agreement which is being negotiated in the corridors ofBelgian capital Brussels, the ''Sunday Express'' reported.

In fact, the workers will enter via controversial"intracompany transfer visas" which allow foreign companies tosend cheap home grown labour to Britain for a maximum of fiveyears, the report said.

The deal was initiated by former EU Trade CommissionerLord Mandelson in 2007 and is expected to be signed by the endof June, it said.

The deal will not only allow Indian workers to bypassthe British government''s new immigration caps, but would alsoexempt them from the National Insurance in their first year,though they may use the National Health Service for free.

According to the report, the figure of 20,000 Indianworkers is nearly 40 per cent of the proposed quota for all 27countries in the EU; it is more than double the next highestfigure for Germany, which will take just 7,115 a year.

It is also in addition to the 20,700 annual cap onskilled non-EU workers, which was announced to great fanfareby British Prime Minister David Cameron last year. And, UK''sBusiness Secretary Vince Cable won a cabinet battle Novemberto ensure the visas for Indian workers were exempt from theGovernment�s new points-based immigration cap.