Table of Contents
- UK Labour Government Focuses on Immigration Reforms
- Review of the Politics of UK’s post-Brexit Immigration
- International Students Affected by Visa Changes
- UK Digital Visas to Replace Physical Documents by 2025
- Proposed Visa-Free Travel to the UK for Thais
- Care Workers Can No Longer Bring Family Members to the UK
- The UK's Immigration Health Surcharge Increase Takes Effect
- Salary Threshold for Family members of UK Residents will Not be Increased!
- Top German Politician calls for Closer Ties between the UK and EU
- Carers from Overseas are Subjected to Exploitation
- New Increases in UK Visa Fees, from 04 October
- 66% of UK public 'dissatisfied with government’s approach to immigration'
- UK's Visa options are preventing Foreign Investors
- Increase in UK CAS and Student Visa Intake for Autumn 2023
- Businesses request Government to Re-consider Planned Increase in Skilled Worker Visa Fees
12 July 2024
UK Labour Government Focuses on Immigration Reforms
UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer has already confirmed he will immediately junk his Tory predecessor’s flagship immigration policy of deporting asylum seekers to the African nation of Rwanda, a strategy that was recently cemented in law after facing a series of challenges in the courts. The scheme cost British taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds, without a single person being deported. Starmer told journalists at his first press conference after entering No. 10 Downing Street that “the Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started” and had “never been a deterrent” to would-be migrants as it would only ever have deported “less than 1 percent” of those arriving across the English Channel on small boats. However, the issue has been given new urgency by the huge number of Brits who voted for Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party, which came third in the popular vote in last Thursday’s election. Former Labour PM Tony Blair called on Starmer to grasp the nettle right away in order to stem the tide of right-wing populism seen in other countries such as France, arguing in the Sunday Times for the introduction of digital ID cards. “If we don’t have rules, we get prejudices,” he warned. Labour has already pledged to curb small boats crossing the Channel by launching a new border security command, which is expected to take shape in the coming days as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper appoints its commander. In Starmer’s first King’s Speech, a Border Security Bill will feature, on July 17 when the PM sets out his legislative program for the coming year. The bill will give authorities new counterterrorism powers to tackle organized crime and people-smuggling.
18 June 2024
Review of the Politics of UK’s post-Brexit Immigration
UK in a Changing Europe states that the report provides a comprehensive overview of the changes in policy, outcomes and public opinion that have reshaped the immigration landscape since the last general election in 2019. As the report notes, Brexit led to the most significant set of changes to the legal framework for immigration to the UK since the early 1970s. Since 2021 and the opening up of the economy after Covid, a liberalisation of the immigration system has resulted in historically high levels of migration, overwhelmingly from outside the EU. On public opinion, UK in a Changing Europe says the public now look back on the past two decades of EU migration as beneficial and have more positive views of immigration, though the spike in immigration in the last few years has partly, if not fully, reversed this shift. Immigration is now increasing in the political agenda again after a long post post-Brexit debate. UK in a Changing Europe reported that: "Brexit did indeed enable the UK government to 'take back control' of immigration policy. The current migration debate reflects the choices policymakers have made, balancing opportunities and challenges, and the effects – both anticipated and not – of those choices. This report aims to provide a clear and evidence-based account of these, and how they have been received by the public. We hope this will help to inform both voters and policymakers as they consider the choices to come, in the general election and after."
17 May 2024
International Students Affected by Visa Changes
Recently, job offers have been withdrawn from foreign graduates of British universities due to changes to the United Kingdom's visa rules that include an increase in the minimum wage needed to qualify for a skilled worker visa — from 26,200 GBP to 38,700 GBP. Leading employers, including HSBC, KPMG, and Deloitte, have reportedly cited the UK government's stringent new visa rules when revoking job offers made to foreign graduates. The UK government increased the threshold for qualification for a skilled worker visa to reduce the number of immigrants arriving in the country. While the threshold now stands at 38,700 GBP for older people, the wage needed by those aged 26 and under is slightly less onerous, at 30,960 GBP. However, many graduates have complained that employers are not recruiting young trainee workers at that pay level. The government's decision to raise the threshold for qualification for a skilled worker visa while at the same time considering abolishing the graduate visa program, which lets foreign graduates of UK universities remain in the country for two years, are causing widespread worry among overseas students, according to the UK's Migration Advisory Committee.
22 April 2024
UK Digital Visas to Replace Physical Documents by 2025
The Home Office, in the UK, has announced that it will invite those with physical immigration documents to create a biometric eVisa via email as part of the government’s greater plan to introduce a digital immigration system, with the goal of implementing eVisas for almost all visa holders in the country by 2025. The Home Office will send emails to those with physical immigration documents called biometric residence permits (BRPs), inviting them to make a UK Visas and Immigration account in order to access their digital visa. Users will be able to update their information associated with the document more easily. The process will be available to all permit holders in the summer of 2024, and will be free for physical document holders. Most BRPs will expire by the end of 2024, and all physical immigration documents will be phased out by 2025. Until they expire, the Home Office says that customers should keep carrying their physical documents as they travel internationally. EVisas reduce the risk of fraud and improve border security, as well as eliminate the ability for documents to be lost or stolen. The digital transition will increase automation and be the next step towards a contactless border.