UK Visa and immigration - Points Based System

20/12/2020

A trafficked woman who asked a judge for the right to work as a cleaner has won a landmark victory in the high court. Ruling on Friday paves way for tens of thousands who are denied the right to work by Home Office to have their requests to take up jobs considered. Asylum seekers & victims of trafficking are generally denied the right to work by the Home Office. Many wait several years for their cases to be determined. There is a record backlog of 60,548 people waiting for an initial decision on their asylum claim, with 76% of people waiting more than 6 months for a decision.

Landmark victory for woman seeking right to work as cleaner paves way for tens of thousands

01/12/2020

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-55133506?fbclid=IwAR2cPVKB1rO3vtg89zOTi7GfmNxNeuBVbImXx810zgNVn5iry5qO9VSeSYI

Applications open for points-based visas to work from 1 January, when free movement from the EU ends.

11/11/2020

We are delivering on the promise we made to the British people to take back control of our borders and implement a fair and firm immigration system.

11/11/2020

Immigration Rules covering student visas were substantially revised in early September 2020, with the changes coming into force on 5 October. As Nath has noted, this means student routes were not as affected as other categories by the major statement of changes (HC 813) on 22 October, which largely focused on glittering new Points-Based Immigration System. It did include some amendments to rules for students, though, and this post is a brief overview of those further changes.

People who want to study in the UK for up to six months can now get a visit visa instead of using the Short-term Student route.

25/10/2020

Is it good news?
Government has quietly reduced £35,800 minimum salary for migrants to settle in the UK by almost 30%, it has emerged. Migrants on salaries of £20,480 but with enough points under Boris Johnson’s new Australian-style immigration system to qualify for jobs where there is a shortage of workers will also be entitled to settle after 6 years & become citizens.
Rules which come into force in December 2020 quietly published on Thursday by Home Office
So how you see it --- Is it good news?

Rules which come into force in December quietly published on Thursday by Home Office

23/10/2020

A major plank of the UK's strategy for removing failed migrants has been ruled illegal because it prevents courts from considering their cases. In a significant ruling, the Court of Appeal said the policy risked removing people from the UK even if they had a right to be in-country.

The Court of Appeal says the Home Office risked removing people who had a right to be in the country.

22/10/2020

A significant new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules has been laid before Parliament today. Changes take effect from 1 December 2020. The government said today's statement of changes was "a significant step forward in the transformation of our immigration system, implementing the future global points-based immigration system and simplifying and streamlining rules."
Changes are made to the following:

Suitability requirements of the Immigration Rules
1. Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route
2. Skilled Worker route
3. S2 Healthcare Visitor route
4. Service Providers from Switzerland route
5. Afghan Interpreter rules
6. EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
7. Visitor route
8. Short-term Study rules
9. Student rules
10. Parent of a Child Student rules
11. Intra-Company Transfer rules
12. Global Talent route
13. Other work routes
14. Validity requirements for applications
15. English language, finance and Knowledge of Life in the UK requirements
16. Administrative review
17. Sham Marriage Scheme and marriage visit visa requirements
18 Family Immigration Rules in Appendix FM
19. Turkish ECAA categories

Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules published on 24 October 2019.

21/10/2020

Home Office has been rolling out new webpages for the public on how to get a visa, in preparation for the new points-based immigration system due to come in from 1 January 2021.

One such page was published yesterday, aimed at EU citizens. The immigration system has of course been going digital in recent years but we haven’t previously seen government saying that it will soon be using apps for everything. While the page is addressed to EU citizens, the whole point of the new immigration system is that there are no longer special routes for Europeans, so it seems likely that app-based applications will be widely available to non-EU citizens as well.

Information about the UK’s points-based immigration system for EU, EEA and Swiss citizens who will arrive in the UK after 31 December 2020.

27/08/2020

Number of skilled worker visa grants plummet during UK Covid-19 lockdown
Fall reverses trend of record levels of immigration from non-EU countries earlier in the year

The number of people granted visas to take up skilled work in the UK fell sharply in the year to June, reflecting a drop off in applications during the coronavirus lockdown.

The fall reversed the trend of record levels of immigration from non-EU countries earlier in the year.

Home Office data released on Thursday showed that in the April to June quarter the number of people granted Tier 2 visas — for skilled workers from outside the EU — fell 95 per cent compared with the same quarter of 2019, to just 1,384.

The decline was part of an overall 99 per cent quarter-on-quarter drop in the number of visas granted, from 1.16m in March to June 2019 to 13,137 in the second quarter of 2020.

The sharp fall in the second quarter helped to push the number of Tier 2 visas granted for the year to June down 20 per cent compared with the previous year and the overall number of visas granted down 22 per cent.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, grants of Tier 2 visas were 9.7 per cent up on the same quarter of 2018, while grants of all visas were 14 per cent up on a year previously.

The issuing of study visas in the second quarter also fell abruptly, declining 99 per cent to 1,276 compared with the second quarter of 2019.

The figures are the clearest indication yet of the impact of the pandemic on net migration from outside the EU, which had been steadily rising before the lockdown on March 23.

Rob McNeil, deputy director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said there had been a “total collapse” in the number of visas granted in the second quarter of the year.

“The impacts are seen right across the board, with many fewer people getting visas for work, study and family,” he said.

While statistics for the first quarter of the year suggested net migration from outside the EU had sharply increased, this was now “ancient history”, he said.

“The big question for the future is how long these impacts last and whether we start to see a recovery in non-EU migration later in the year — particularly among students who usually get their visas in the third quarter,” Mr McNeil said.

Before the lockdown, the UK’s tight labour market and demand from students from Asia to study in the UK had been pushing up migration from outside the EU to record levels.

Figures also published on Thursday from the Office for National Statistics, which lag behind the Home Office data by three months, showed that trend had continued right up to the lockdown. The ONS said 316,000 more people from outside the EU arrived in the UK in the year to March this year than left, outstripping the previous record for net migration from outside the EU of 282,000, set in the year to December 2019.

The Home Office visa statistics suggest the ONS figures for the second quarter will show a sharp decline in non-EU net migration when they are published in November.

Fall reverses trend of record levels of immigration from non-EU countries earlier in the year

17/07/2020

UK to launch post-Brexit points-based immigration system and reinforce border
The UK government has said it intends to regain control of its borders and reduce low-skilled migration. London also said it will spend nearly €800 million on border infrastructure to intensify checks and regulation.
The UK on Sunday announced plans to introduce a post-Brexit, points-based immigration system so that it an "take back control of its borders and unleash the country's full potential."

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the new system will apply from January 1, when the UK ends its 11-month transition following its official departure from the European Union.

Read more: Does the coronavirus crisis make a no-deal Brexit more likely?

Post-Brexit UK will be "a sovereign nation with an immigration system that attracts the best from all over the world," Patel wrote in British newspaper The Sun.

The government has vowed to cut back on low-skilled migration and instead entice skilled English-speaking professionals such as "scientists" and "innovators" with confirmed job offers.

The UK government has said it intends to regain control of its borders and reduce low-skilled migration. London also said it will spend nearly €800 million on border infrastructure to intensify checks and regulation.

19/05/2020

Points-based UK immigration bill passes initial Commons stage.
The new scheme will present equal opportunity to people from all over the world to come and work in the UK.

Labour claims Australian-style system will alienate key workers who have risked their lives amid pandemic