International students are worth billions to the UK economy in higher education fees and indirect expenditure, benefitting local communities financially as well as enriching them in non-economic terms. Being able to attract overseas students is crucial to the economic viability of many education providers, but only those with a sponsor...
The immigration system has been through a lot since I started covering it for Free Movement five years ago. In September 2017, the UK was still in the two-year countdown to leaving the European Union, and there were even doubts about whether it would happen at all. The EU Settlement...
Twitter’s political correspondents are abuzz with the news that the government has made its second NHS-and-immigration U-turn in 24 hours: Woah . Big victory for @Keir_Starmer No10 spokesman: pic.twitter.com/AHWInadgUK — Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) May 21, 2020 A select coterie of journalists tend to get privileged access to such announcements, but...
The Tier 1 (Investor) visa allows foreign citizens to get permission to live in the UK in return for an investment of £2 million in the British economy. The investment can be in shares or bonds issued by UK companies. Around 12,000 people have come to the UK on a...
Bureaucrats are not generally known for their creative thinking. But show a Home Office immigration official an application for asylum or a visa and watch their imagination run riot. All these are real excuses, communicated in official government letters, for declining a visa, refusing asylum or disbelieving some aspect of...
What’s the spookiest part of the immigration system? Colin asked via Twitter on Halloween, and you answered. Here’s seven of the best ideas for immigration law-themed Halloween costumes. 1. Spookified documents Specified Documents, no question about it — Julian Norman (@Julian_Norman1) October 31, 2019 Scary rating: 🎃🎃. See Failure to...
A new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules was published yesterday, 9 September 2019. This post will cover changes to work and student visa routes, while a separate post deals with changes to the EU Settlement Scheme and other changes brought about by Brexit. Except where indicated otherwise, these changes...
Last night the BBC concluded its three-part documentary about immigration lawyers and their clients, Who Should Get to Stay in the UK?. The series followed a variety of visa applicants and asylum seekers on their journey through the UK’s immigration system, giving the general public an insight into what it’s...
The government’s flagship new visa for overseas entrepreneurs is facing early problems as it emerges that few of the organisations required to endorse applicants are prepared to do so. Most of the official endorsing bodies for the newly launched innovator visa have told Free Movement that they are either unable...
The Home Office has rowed back last week’s announcement that the Tier 1 (Investor) route was suspended with near-immediate effect. It was widely reported last Thursday that the route would be closed to new applications from midnight the next day due to concerns over money laundering, but the department provided...
Immigration lawyers helping sponsoring universities navigate the complexities of the Points Based System naturally have an economic interest in overseas students — but then so does the rest of the nation. That is the uncompromising conclusion of the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), whose experts find that “there is no...
Perhaps it’s the Donald Trump effect? The government yesterday announced two policy changes that should benefit migrants in the UK, just as the famously anti-immigrant reality TV host President of the United States was landing at Stansted airport. First, legal aid is to be restored for lone child migrants. Justice...
The Home Secretary has today laid a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules to exempt doctors and nurses from the limit on visas for skilled non-EU workers. Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, announced in a press release that “there will be no restriction on the numbers...
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. This is the last instalment of this round-up as a standalone article. As explained in the response to the Free Movement reader survey, these weekly posts are an attempt to meet demand for more general...
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. Visa quota Last Sunday’s Guardian carried news “Britain has hit its cap on visas for skilled non-European workers for an unprecedented third month in a row”, referring to restricted certificates of sponsorship under Tier 2. This was originally...
A science and research plan published today suggests increased central government scrutiny on Home Office work visa rules and operations. The plan promises a new “Office for Talent” operating out of 10 Downing Street, which “will make it easier for those with the most talent, potential, energy and creativity to...
When the government announced on 21 May 2020 that NHS and social care workers would be made exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge, some immigration lawyers pointed out that a political announcement is one thing, legal implementation quite another. Nichola reminded us that “history has shown that the pressure needs...
More on the mysterious legal power that the Home Secretary claims to have to grant automatic visa extensions to foreign NHS workers. Asked about the legal basis for automatic extensions by MPs on the Home Affairs Committee this morning, Priti Patel said: Of course, as Home Secretary, I’m able to...
The Immigration Rules are due to change on 6 October 2019, as heralded by statement of changes HC 2631. One particularly notable change will be the amendment of the Shortage Occupation List, with many roles being added to the list and some removed. One advantage of a role being on...
There is a growing furore about the poor state of our visa application processes, which seem to have hit an all time low. The application systems for getting a visa, extension, settlement or citizenship are now mostly online and outsourced. But far from becoming more efficient, there is growing evidence...
The Times is getting in on the legal rankings game with a list of the top 200 solicitors’ firms as selected by lawyers themselves. The newspaper says that it worked with market research firm Statista to contact over 20,000 solicitors and ask them “other than your own firm, which practice...
The Home Office will have no idea how many EU residents are left undocumented by Brexit because it does not collect or release the necessary data, a leading immigration policy expert has warned. Madeleine Sumption said yesterday that the government has no plans to find out how many of the...
