Non-binary Indian on student visa elected to Scottish Parliament

A non-binary transgender Indian and former PhD student born in Tamil Nadu has become the first person to be elected as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) despite being a foreign citizen without a UK permanent residence visa.Indian national Q Manivannan won the Edinburgh and Lothian East seat for the Scottish Greens on Friday, becoming one of the first two transgender MPs elected to Holyrood MPs. They told supporters: “My name is Dr Q Manivannan, I am a transgender Tamil immigrant and my pronouns are they/them.”Their election sparked controversy. Migration Watch said: “Dr Q Manivannan, an Indian migrant who arrived in the UK on a student visa, is now a Scottish politician pushing for the breakup of the UK.”Manivannan will now receive an annual salary of 77,000 pounds (Rs 99 lakh), although he will not be entitled to full-time employment. MSP is crowdfunding £2,089 to fund a graduate visa, which will allow them to stay for a further three years. Manivannan said they came from lower-caste backgrounds in Tamil Nadu and compared the “strong tone of resistance” in Tamil Nadu to Scotland. They said they joined the Green Party because of its support for Palestine. They unfollowed Auschwitz on social media and defended the defacement of Israeli hostage posters, The Telegraph reported.They now hold student visas that allow part-time work. Last year, the SNP government introduced legislation to allow non-UK citizens to represent Parliament if they had any type of leave, including short-term study visas. Previously ILR was required.They studied Arts and Humanities at Jindal Global University in Delhi before moving to Scotland in September 2021 to study at the University of St Andrews. A spokesman for the Scottish Green Party said: “Q holds a valid visa, has the right to work and live in Scotland and is a Commonwealth citizen.”