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| UK Immigration News and Articles |
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Gurkhas with four years in British Army now eligible for UK Visa for citizenship |
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In a landmark scheme introduced by the Home Office, Gurkhas who retired before 1st July 1997 would be eligible to apply for UK Citizenship along with their spouses and any dependant children.
Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith announced the scheme in collaboration with Home Affairs Select Committee and Gurkha representative.
This scheme would help almost 4000 Gurkhas currently supporting the British Army globally in addition to the several thousand who have already moved to the UK along with their families.
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Only 10% of UK Educators eligible to sponsor UK Student Visa applications |
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The new points based UK Visa application process has reduced the number of institutions eligible for sponsoring UK student visa by almost 90%. Educational institutions receiving approval by applying for sponsorship license are required to prove to the government that they are legitimate institutions.
According to recent BBC News there are only 1,500 institutions from a total pool of 15,000 institutions officially allowed to sponsor UK Visa applications for students to study in UK.
Countering these claims the British Accreditation Council has responded that of the total pool of institutions on the DIUS register also contains institutions that do not provide service to students from outside Europe and hence are not required to register for Tier 4. While admitting that there may still be some institutions that may not have yet registered.
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UK visa holders to be issued British ID cards |
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UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced that UK citizens and visa holders living in Manchester will be the first to be issued a national ID card as part of the roll-out of the scheme.
THE British government is pressing ahead with the controversial scheme to introduce national identity cards, with a pilot project in the city of Manchester.
For residents who have moved to the UK from abroad, the ID card will show that the immigrant has the right to live, study or work in the UK.
Identity cards are already in use by foreign nationals to show that they have the right to work in the UK, and the Home Office said that plans are underway to ensure that 75,000 are issued for this purpose by November. |
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University lecturers may boycott immigration 'snooper' rules on foreign students |
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University lecturers are considering a boycott of government rules that they say would turn them into "immigration snoopers" on foreign students.
Ministers introduced a new points-based immigration system for non-EU staff and students in April as part of its drive to combat terrorism. Students will have to carry biometric identity cards, while universities must check students' bona fides and monitor and report any unexplained absences to the Home Office.
Lecturers at the University and College Union (UCU) annual conference, starting in Bournemouth , will argue that the system turns "educators into immigration snoopers" and could irreparably damage the reputation of UK higher education.
A motion put forward by a UCU regional branch argues that the new arrangements mean staff are in effect signed up as "Home Office agents" to carry out policing and surveillance work, and warns that lecturers could be liable to fines and possible jail sentences if they fail to comply.
If the motion is passed, UCU officials will be asked to campaign to repeal both the regulations and the overseas student identity cards.
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UKBA to tighten norms for Highly Skilled Migrants |
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February 2009
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has once again announced a further clamming of immigration law, which will affect Indian professionals wishing to pursue a career in the UK.
The amends to the Points Based System will impose a new criteria for Tier 1 Visa applicants namely that all highly skilled professionals must hold a master’s degree (instead of the current requirement for a bachelors degree) and earn an annual salary equivalent of £20 000 to apply under Tier 1 General category for highly skilled migrants
SmartMove2UK an Indian immigration firm believes that while the new legislation is likely to protect the interest of British workers from non – EU migrants, it may not offer much relief from the EU migrant job seekers.
Young Indians had the opportunity to live and work in the UK under the Working Holiday Maker program or applying as Highly Skilled Migrants. However, the Working Holiday Maker Visa was discontinued for Indian nationals in 2008 and the new amends to the Points Based System is likely to make the route much tougher for Indian professionals.
Part of the new regulations means that UK employers will now need to advertise positions at UK Job Centres and provide proof of inability to recruit workers from UK before considering recruiting foreign workers from outside the EU. |
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In 2002 the Home Office, launched the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), a new initiative to allow individuals with exceptional skills and experience to come to the United Kingdom to seek and take up work without having a prior offer of employment.
The programme was a way of allowing individuals to migrate to the United Kingdom. It aimed to provide an individual migration route for a highly skilled person who had the skills and experience required by the United Kingdom to compete in the global economy. The programme was (and continues to be) based on a points system. To make a successful application an individual needed to provide evidence that they scored 65 points or more in the areas of educational qualifications, previous work experience, past earnings, age, partner's achievements and contributions to a particular field. There was also in place a provision for GPs, who automatically qualified under the scheme.
On 7th November 2006, Liam Byrne, Minister for Immigration, Nationality and Citizenship announced a change in the Rules for the HSMP, applicable to all new applicants and those already in the UK under the HSMP. Applicants were to be assessed against new points criteria, points being awarded for academic qualifications; previous income; UK gained experience or qualifications and Age. The overall points score required for approval was increased from 65 to 75 points. The Programme no longer awarded points for previous work experience, significant achievements and partner's skills. The GP Priority Provision category was also removed.
Significantly, applicants seeking to apply for an extension of their stay in this category now had to demonstrate that they met the new criteria. Applicants who did not meet the new criteria no longer qualified under the scheme.
The Highly Skilled Migrants Programme Forum Limited, a non profit organization set up to support and assist highly skilled migrants in the UK, brought a case against the Government, arguing that the new system was "grossly unfair" and "a clear case of breach of legitimate expectation". The group argued that 90% of those who arrived before 2006, about 44,000 people would no longer qualify to remain in the UK and accused the Government of going back on a promise to let them stay after several years' work.
In a landmark judgement, the UK High Court has ruled that the Judicial Review application filed by the HSMP Forum Limited against unfair retrospective changes to the HSMP in November 2006 is successful. The High Court allowed the appeals made by Highly Skilled Migrants, stating that "the old scheme constituted an integrated and entire programme and that it was not open to the government to alter the terms and conditions upon which the pre-arranged stages were to be implemented."
Justice Sir George Newman, in his landmark judgement observed "In the circumstances, I am satisfied that the terms of the original scheme should be honoured and that there is no good reason why those already on the scheme shall not enjoy the benefits of it as originally offered to them. Good administration and straightforward dealing with the public require it. Not to restrain the impact of the changes would, in my judgment, give rise to conspicuous unfairness and an abuse of power."
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Keeping in line with the current rhetoric on British Jobs for British People.
make sure policy on overseas workers was "responding to the current economic circumstances".
Smith is "raising the bar" and has ordered an investigation into the impact of the arrival of families of immigrant workers, and will make changes to the current points-based system used to decide whether applicants are eligible to work in the UK, the BBC reported.
Applicants from non-EU countries are currently categorised by a points-based system that decides whether they can find work in the UK, but there are no restrictions on EU citizens.
Non-EU workers wanting to work in Britain without securing a job beforehand must have a master's degree from April this year - rather than a bachelor's degree, as currently required - and a previous salary equivalent to at least £20,000.
The latest ONS migration statistics show that 6.5 million people born overseas were resident in the UK in the year to June 2008, an increase of 290,000 on the year to June 2007.
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With effect from 7th January 2009 the Visa Fee for United Kingdom will be revised hence forth all applicants traveling to UK after the above mentioned date will have to pay the revised fee.
- Single or double visit up to 1 month (India only) Rs. 3,400
- Family visitor, Entertainer visitor, Business visitor (general) , Special visitor Rs.4,900
- Student visa Rs.7,450
- Tier 1 General applicant Rs.45,000
- Tier 1 general applicant with HSMP approval letter (transitional arrangement) Rs. 15,000
- Tier 2 applicant Rs.15,400
- Tier 5 applicant (temporary worker), Tier 5 (youth mobility scheme) Rs.7,450
- Right of Abode Certificate of Entitlement Rs.15,400
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The introduction of new Tier system for student visas in March 2009 will clamp down on bogus students and ensure that students who show a proven track record in education and are applying for a course that meets a minimum level of qualification.
As part of the new Tier system an applicants right to lodge an appeal against a student visa refusal to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT) will be closed down.
Under the current process several hundreds of appeals against Entry clearance refusals are heard before independent Immigration Judge at the AIT. And almost 1 in 4 of the refusals are overturned on appeal, a mind boggling statistic when we consider that these cases are merely dealt with on papers only without any representation.
The new system will replace the right of appeal with an Administrative Review wherein the case will be reviewed by another Entry Clearance Manager. According to the authorities the new points based system is designed to be more fair and transparent thus doing away with the need for an appeal process.
Under the new system an applicant's refusal will be based on facts such as fraudulent documents or lack of funds as opposed to being refused on "intent".
Till such time as the new system comes in to effect the students whose application is rejected should take specialist advise on their options and exercise their primary right of appeal.
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The Home Office promised new immigrations measures "in the coming weeks" in response to the economic climate and suggested the new points system would be used to reduce the flow of migrant workers.
It came as new figures showed non-UK born workers increased by 214,000 in the year up to December while the number of British workers fell by 278,000 over the same period.
It piles fresh pressure on Gordon Brown's pledge of "British jobs for British workers" and comes less than month since the Daily Telegraph disclosed the number of work permits handed to foreign workers hit a record high of more than 151,000 last year.
The Government finally appeared to signal action last night in a joint statement from the Department of Work and Pensions and the Home Office.A Home Office spokesman said: "We have brought in the Australian style points based system to control the numbers coming to Britain – and we will be bringing forward proposals in the coming weeks about how we will be using this to react to the current economic conditions."
However, any restrictions on work permits would have no effect on the hundreds of thousands of EU workers who are free to come to Britain and find jobs.
During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Brown insisted the Government was controlling the influx of foreign workers. "Despite all the figures that are bandied about today, the percentage of non-UK nationals that is employed in the UK is 8 per cent and it is lower than many of the countries people compare us with," he said. "We have just introduced the points system, which means that unskilled workers will not get into the country unless they have a contribution to make."
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The Home Office promised new immigrations measures "in the coming weeks" in response to the economic climate and suggested the new points system would be used to reduce the flow of migrant workers.
It came as new figures showed non-UK born workers increased by 214,000 in the year up to December while the number of British workers fell by 278,000 over the same period.
It piles fresh pressure on Gordon Brown's pledge of "British jobs for British workers" and comes less than month since the Daily Telegraph disclosed the number of work permits handed to foreign workers hit a record high of more than 151,000 last year.
The Government finally appeared to signal action last night in a joint statement from the Department of Work and Pensions and the Home Office.A Home Office spokesman said: "We have brought in the Australian style points based system to control the numbers coming to Britain – and we will be bringing forward proposals in the coming weeks about how we will be using this to react to the current economic conditions."
However, any restrictions on work permits would have no effect on the hundreds of thousands of EU workers who are free to come to Britain and find jobs.
During Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Brown insisted the Government was controlling the influx of foreign workers. "Despite all the figures that are bandied about today, the percentage of non-UK nationals that is employed in the UK is 8 per cent and it is lower than many of the countries people compare us with," he said. "We have just introduced the points system, which means that unskilled workers will not get into the country unless they have a contribution to make."
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11 January 2009
Immigration officers face "perverse incentives" to grant visas to foreigners rather than refuse them, an influential group of MPs warns today.
Staff must provide far less evidence as to why they have approved an application to come to Britain than they do if they want to reject it, leading them to potentially approve more than they should. The warning comes less than two months after a watchdog said around 300,000 foreigners who should not be granted visas are allowed in to Britain every year. A report by the Commons Homes Affairs Select Committee today warns that while the reasons for a visa refusal are regularly reviewed, and therefore subject to detailed scrutiny, those for an approval are not. Therefore, the evidence needed for a refusal is far more detailed and MPs questioned whether that would lead to a "tendency to be tempted to approve more applications that one should on the basis that that work is never going to be checked".
They conclude: "We share the concern of the Independent Monitor that the substantially lower level of evidence that entry clearance officers are obliged to record for a visa issue than for a visa refusal may provide a perverse incentive for officers to issue visas rather than refuse them. "However, the extent to which this has happened in practice is far from clear." Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: "This is a very serious issue. "There is strong pressure on entry clearance officers to grant visas rather than refuse them. This will lead to an even greater number of visitors overstaying their visa and becoming an illegal immigrant in Britain."
Nearly two million visas are approved each year, giving the right to enter the UK for six months. Reasons for refusal can involve doubts over whether they will return home, questions about their true reason for coming and concerns about their identity. But in evidence to the select committee in November, Linda Costelloe-Baker, who officially monitors visa refusals, said around 15 per cent of short-term visas were wrongly approved because it was easier than rejecting applications. She said officials were "under pressure'' to issue visas in order to hit productivity targets.
Monitoring of visa decisions is being incorporated in to the newly created office of Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency,. But in their report, the MPs warn the new inspectorate may not be fully operational by the time the independent monitor role is scrapped in April and call for the role to continue to allow a sufficient overlap. It also criticises the fact recommendations from Mrs Costelloe-Baker for better training for staff to spot fraudulent applications had not been accepted by the Home Office because it was "too difficult" to put in place.
Keith Vaz, chairman of the committee, said: "The Independent Monitor has been doing important work overseeing the entry clearance process and the fact that some of the concerns and recommendations regarding the visa clearance system remain unaddressed indicates to us that there must be no gap in the scrutiny of this process. "We strongly urge the Government to ensure that the Independent Monitor remains until the new inspectorate is fully up and running. "To abolish her post without a fully resourced replacement would mean less scrutiny of the government in this crucial area of work."
A Home Office spokeswoman said:"The allegation that our staff give out visas when people do not meet the immigration rules is untrue and a distortion of what the Independent Monitor said at the Home Affairs Select Committee, as her mandate has never covered the granting of visas. "Every application is scrutinised, fingerprints are taken, and the individuals checked against a range of watch-lists. Visas provide the first line of defence against those who seek to abuse the system. Travellers are subject to further tough checks at the border." "Already we've fingerprinted more than three million people and identified 4,600 cases of identity fraud. Last year we refused visas to nearly 20 percent of applicants."
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
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From 1 April 2008, strict new laws mean that those who have committed immigration breaches will automatically be refused visas if they seek permission to come back to the UK in the future.
The new Immigration Rules require entry clearance officers to refuse to issue visas to non EU nationals who have previously:
- overstayed their leave in the UK,
- breached their conditions of leave -eg by working without permission,
- entered the country illegally, or
- used deception (including lying, using a false document or withholding information) in an application for a visa or leave to enter or remain.
Where previously visa officers had a discretion to disregard minor previous breaches and re-entry bans were only applied to people who had been deported, the new penalty for these previous breaches is now an automatic refusal of any visa or leave to enter or remain application and a time limited re-entry ban.
Such individuals who voluntarily leave/left the UK and pay/paid the cost of the return journey will be banned from returning for one year, those who leave/left voluntarily but did not pay for their return journey will face a five year reentry ban, and those who are/have been 'removed' or deported will be banned from returning for ten years. Those who had overstayed their leave to remain but who left within 28 days of the expiry of their leave will be excluded from the new penalties.
Major protests were mounted about these draconian new rules and the lack of consultation. These were led by the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA), the TUC and others. Jonathan Kingham, an immigration solicitor at Kingsley Napley, was involved in this campaign. As a result, the government recently announced a concession allowing individuals who were present in the UK on 17 March 2008 to leave the UK by 1 October 2008 and apply for a visa to return without facing an automatic re-entry ban. However, this concession is quite limited in scope and will largely apply to those currently in the UK who have overstayed their leave.
In a response to a further letter from ILPA requesting various clarifications as to the nature of the concession, the Minister for Immigration has now confirmed that the automatic refusal and re-entry bans will not apply where an individual had previously breached immigration law but has subsequently been granted leave to remain.
The new rules may have major implications in particular for those who are refused entry on arrival in the UK. When these individuals are turned back by UK immigration at a UK airport they are effectively "removed". One of the common grounds for refusing entry is for those coming a business visitors. They are allowed to attend meetings and undertake specific tasks. However, in some circumstances the activities they undertake may go beyond what is permitted by the business visit rules. These individuals may be refused entry, removed and be advised to apply for a work permit and the relevant visa. It is therefore important for individuals who intend to come to the UK for business purposes to be very clear about what activities are permitted in the UK and when a work permit may be required.
If they are not normally required to obtain a visa to come here as a visitor and are refused entry at the airport/port as the Immigration Officer believes that they have not been honest about what they intend to do in the UK, this dishonesty may be viewed as 'deception', and if so they will be barred from applying for a visa or entering the UK for at least one year, and potentially ten years.
In addition to the above concerns, the consequences of breaching the conditions of leave to remain now have a much more serious implication. In particular, students who have worked more than the permitted 20 hours per week in term time or individuals with a work permit who wish to change job and commence employment with a new employer prior to the approval of a new work permit application may find that their future visa applications are automatically refused.
For individuals who have previously committed any of the above breaches, however minor they may seem,and wish to apply for a UK visa or in-country extension of leave application,we would recommend that you seek professional advice before doing so. |
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