Richard Parker, the newly-elected mayor of England’s West Midlands, will lead a 40-strong public–private delegation to Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Bengaluru from 23–27 February 2026. The visit, billed as a ‘mission to seize the moment’, is the first UK regional foray since the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was signed last July and is explicitly designed to exploit the accord’s labour-mobility provisions.
Under Chapter 11 of the FTA, short-term business visitors, intra-corporate transferees and independent professionals from either side can obtain 90-day multiple-entry visas with simplified documentation. Regional universities, energy firm E.ON, and several advanced-manufacturing SMEs will accompany the mayor to court Indian talent and investment using those rules. Aston University plans to announce a twinned master’s in battery innovation that will allow Indian students to split study between Birmingham and Pune and move directly into two-year graduate roles under the UK’s new ‘Skilled Worker Premium’ for FTA-partner nationals.
For organisations eager to tap these streamlined visa pathways, VisaHQ’s UK portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) can take the administrative sting out of the process. The service handles everything from document validation to embassy submission and offers a dashboard for HR teams to track multiple applications in real time—ideal for coordinating the kind of rapid deployments envisaged by the West Midlands delegation.
![West Midlands mayor launches trade mission to India to capitalise on UK–India FTA mobility chapters]()
The mission also aims to cement reciprocal social-security relief agreed last week, which will exempt staff on assignments of up to five years from paying into both countries’ state pension schemes. For multinationals, the combined effect could trim assignment costs by 12-15 per cent, according to Deloitte Mobility.
Critically, Birmingham Airport is lobbying Air India to relaunch a non-stop service to Bengaluru to support the anticipated traffic. If approved, it would be the first direct connection between the UK’s second-largest regional economy and India’s tech hub, slashing journey times for project teams.
HR and mobility leaders should monitor the secondary regulations that both governments must publish before the mobility chapter takes effect—expected on 1 April 2026. Companies eyeing quick transfers should start drafting compliant assignment contracts now, including health-insurance and payroll clauses that match the new social-security exemption windows.
Under Chapter 11 of the FTA, short-term business visitors, intra-corporate transferees and independent professionals from either side can obtain 90-day multiple-entry visas with simplified documentation. Regional universities, energy firm E.ON, and several advanced-manufacturing SMEs will accompany the mayor to court Indian talent and investment using those rules. Aston University plans to announce a twinned master’s in battery innovation that will allow Indian students to split study between Birmingham and Pune and move directly into two-year graduate roles under the UK’s new ‘Skilled Worker Premium’ for FTA-partner nationals.
For organisations eager to tap these streamlined visa pathways, VisaHQ’s UK portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) can take the administrative sting out of the process. The service handles everything from document validation to embassy submission and offers a dashboard for HR teams to track multiple applications in real time—ideal for coordinating the kind of rapid deployments envisaged by the West Midlands delegation.
The mission also aims to cement reciprocal social-security relief agreed last week, which will exempt staff on assignments of up to five years from paying into both countries’ state pension schemes. For multinationals, the combined effect could trim assignment costs by 12-15 per cent, according to Deloitte Mobility.
Critically, Birmingham Airport is lobbying Air India to relaunch a non-stop service to Bengaluru to support the anticipated traffic. If approved, it would be the first direct connection between the UK’s second-largest regional economy and India’s tech hub, slashing journey times for project teams.
HR and mobility leaders should monitor the secondary regulations that both governments must publish before the mobility chapter takes effect—expected on 1 April 2026. Companies eyeing quick transfers should start drafting compliant assignment contracts now, including health-insurance and payroll clauses that match the new social-security exemption windows.
