London: Britain today said it will create a special immigration category for temporary workers, hours after India voiced concern that the new points-based system might come in the way of it and other developing countries exporting IT systems and personnel to the UK.

The British Home Office sources said it would create a special immigration category for temporary workers, details of which would be released shortly.

The announcement comes after Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath warned that the new points-based immigration system might come in the way of India and other developing countries exporting Information Technology systems and personnel to the UK.

"The new regime can make it harder for software and other IT executives to travel back and forth between India and the UK, imperilling their ability to fulfil service contracts," Nath told the Financial Times.

Earlier in a speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a London-based think tank, Nath said the new British immigration system could become a "retrograde step" and global community could not overlook services if progress were to be made in the Doha Development Round of talks aimed at laying down the rules of world trade.

"We understand that immigration is a sensitive subject," he said, but added that if people came for a short period for either business or work, then "that's not immigration."

Negotiations on the temporary movement of natural persons are covered under the Mode 4 sections of Services at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva.

Nath said the new British Immigration system risked becoming a "retrograde step" if it made it harder for Indian businessmen and professionals to come and work in Britain for temporary periods.

"We are not asking for more permanent immigration. We are talking about people coming in for a month or so to integrate software systems," he said.

Indian software companies that could not send executives or technical experts into Britain for short periods would be unable to service warranties or sell new systems that would require on-the-spot maintenance in the future, he said.

Total UK imports of computer and information services from India were 2.7 billion pounds in 2006.

Source : PTI