Blog
Kingsley Napley’s Medical Negligence Team ‘walks together’ with the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity
Sharon Burkill
7 November 2013
Immigration Update: Home Office Targets Business Travellers with New Premium Visa Services
On 6 November, the government announced the launch of the GREAT Club, an invitation only service providing top business executives with bespoke support from UK visas and Immigration (UKVI). The Club will start initially in the New Year as a 12 month pilot aimed at around 100 global business leaders who use the visa service and have strong links to the UK. They will be provided with an account manager to ensure their visa and immigration service is swift and smooth. The account manager will also be able to arrange visa services tailored to each individual’s needs at no extra cost during the pilot.
31 October 2013
Immigration Update: Changes to Guidance on Prevention of Illegal Working
As of 28 October the Home Office has published an updated version of its guide for employers on preventing illegal working in the UK. This version replaces the previous one published in May 2012.
18 October 2013
Immigration Update: New “streamlined” UK visa services announced for China
During a visit to China on 14 October 2013, the Chancellor, George Osborne indicated that the visa application process for Chinese visitors was to be simplified. The Home Office has now announced the introduction of the following enhanced and streamlined services for processing UK visa applications in China.
24 January 2013
New UKBA backlog - symptomatic of systemic delays and damaging to the UK economy
The media has widely reported today that the UKBA has a backlog of around 16,000 cases, some of which date back a decade, as uncovered by John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. For those of us representing clients in this arena, this news is hardly surprising. The UKBA is racked with delays across many of its areas of operation and these are bound to increase as limited resources are spread ever thinner across the agency.
20 November 2012
Employing migrant workers: A checklist for compliance
Supermarket giant Tesco has recently been fined £115,000 for employing foreign students who were breaking the conditions of their visas. This follows shortly after the decision by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to suspend the Tier 4 sponsor licence of the London Metropolitan University, due to the non-compliance with its sponsor licence duties.
These high profile cases along with other recently reported cases on the UKBA website clearly show that the UKBA will not hesitate to take action against employers or academic institutions, whether big or small, who fail to comply with their licence obligations.
Ilda de Sousa provides a checklist for how employers can ensure that they are compliant.
