13 August 2015
Migration Advisory Committee publishes its report on Tier 2 Minimum Salary Thresholds
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has today published its report following the consultation on Tier 2 minimum salary thresholds. The MAC has adopted a cautious approach and is not making any recommendations at this stage, pending analysis of the results from the current wider Tier 2 Review consultation, which is due to be reported on in December this year.
7 August 2015
UK Visas and Immigration Online Application Service
The Home Office has announced that within the next few weeks it will be rolling out a full online Tier 2 visa application facility for migrants and their dependants. Currently this facility is only available for Tier 2 applicants and their dependants applying using the Tier 2 priority and postal service.
31 July 2015
A call for reform and redesign of the UK’s Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa
In March 2015, the Government commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (the MAC) to review the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa category. This followed a number of concerns about the benefits the route brings to the UK as well as fears over abuse of the route. This blog looks at our proposals for reform and redesign of the route.
23 July 2015
Roll out of new Criminal Record Certificate requirements for migrants
With effect from 1 September 2015 the Home Office will begin to roll out the requirement for migrants to obtain police clearance certificates prior to submitting applications for visas to travel to the UK. There will be a phased introduction commencing with the Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) applicant categories. This is a trial scheme and subject to its success it is anticipated that it will be rolled out further to other immigration categories at the beginning of 2016.
16 July 2015
Ongoing concerns for Sponsors refused a Certificate of Sponsorship under the Tier 2 restricted cap this month
Following our post on 18 June 2015, as widely predicted the Tier 2 cap was again breached in July. The July allocation of Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship (RCoS) was already bolstered by a large rollover from June (394), resulting in a total of 2,040 available for allocation this month. The minimum salary required to qualify for an RCoS in July was £32,000 which is an improvement on last month when the figure was £46,000.