Asian business in the UK with an annual turnover of £60 billion might experience a drastic fall because of the new immigration law, Asylum and Nationality Bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords soon, said industry sources.
The proposed new immigration policy that will impose a two-year jail term and fine on employers hiring illegal foreigners would throw Indian and Chinese restaurant owners into trouble. It also insists them to hire East European people to run their restaurants.
Indian and Chinese restaurant owners are campaigning to persuade the government to let the thousands of Asians work in the kitchens in Britain and help make curries and chows.
But ministers have refused saying that caterers must speak English in their kitchens so that vacancies for low-skilled workers can be filled from Eastern Europe.
Most of the new asylum-seekers and unskilled labour migrating to Britain these days are from the new European countries and EU members.
Indian and Chinese foods have become a staple of the British palate and most of the 25,000 restaurants and takeaways specialising in the fare rely on asylum-seekers, students and illegal immigrants.
Initially these restaurants were family-run businesses, but as the restaurant owners made money, and their children achieved academic and commercial success, they no longer wanted to work in the catering business. The restaurants therefore now rely on hiring both skilled and unskilled hands from outside, business sources said.
The new policy will encourage highly priced and expensive non-European professionals, but not low-skilled hands, which make up a large number of staff in the restaurants.
Ashraf Uddin, the secretary general of the Bangladesh Caterer' Association, told the news agency that at least 20,000 workers a year are needed to work in Britain's 10,000 Indian restaurants, and the government had told them to hire East Europeans to fill the gap.
"Unless they know our culture, our language, our way of working, it would be a complete mess," he added.
Thomas Chan, who chairs the Chinese Takeaway Association, echoed Ashraf Uddin's fears. "The head chef will find it difficult to communicate. If there is no mutually understood language, how are they going to give instructions?"
However, Taflan Dikec, president of the National Association of Kebab Shops, manned mostly by Europeans and Turks, said the East European labour force was capable of making more than just kebabs. "There is a myth that Chinese food can only be cooked by a Chinese person or Indian by an Indian. If they would give the Europeans a chance, the myth would be proved false," said Dikec.
The Home Office defended their position arguing that allowing the sector to rely on low-skilled labour from outside the UK or EU would be self-perpetuating if it means the sector continues to be reliant on workers with particular language skills.
