A tech firm has been forced to apologise after publishing a job advert that said Indian immigrants would only be considered for the role. It stated that UK-based Avantao Technologies was looking for a DevOps engineer to work at its HQ in Ilford, London. The company also has offices in Hyderabad and Bangalore, as well as another in the US. However, the post on a recruitment platform asking for someone to work in its office here made it clear that people born in Britain should not put their names forward.

A note on the job application said: "Only candidates who are immigrants from India will be considered," reports Mail Online. It asked: "Are you seeking sponsorship for employment in the UK?" " What is your native country?" and "Are you legally authorised to work in the United Kingdom?" Now, the company has insisted that it was a mistake, and it could not be taken down as the person who posted it was on holiday. A spokesperson for Avantao told MailOnline: "We are very sorry to hear that this has occurred.

"The job was never intended, nor did we provide support from a certain country.

"What we discovered was a test demonstration post that is being taught to our employees about do's and don'ts."

They added: "Unfortunately, that has been published, and we are unable to retract it because it was a mistake made by the employee who posted it live and then departed on holiday.

"Our organisation is subject to United Kingdom rules and regulations.

"But a mistake is a mistake, and we have taken action against the individual. We haven't hired anyone for this role because it's a test.

"However, we genuinely apologise."

The director of Avantao in Ilford is Chitra Ranjeeth, while the HR Manager is Sai Madhavi Vadapalli, who is based in Hyderabad.

The firm's Ilford office is listed as being located at a business centre in Ilford.

A number of other unrelated firms are also based in the building.

In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, which includes nationality, ethnic or national origin and colour.

The Express has contacted Avantao for comment.