14 February 2013
Immigration Alert: UK Border Agency Establishes a New Business Helpdesk Pilot
In response to requests from the Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) has established a Business Helpdesk Pilot. Kingsley Napley has been asked by the UKBA to participate in this pilot on behalf of our business clients, which will run until the end of March.
31 January 2013
Immigration Alert: Changes to the Life in the UK Test
On 28 January 2013, an updated Life in the UK Test handbook was published for all applicants wishing to settle in the UK or apply to be naturalised as a British citizen. The updated handbook will be applicable for the new Life in the UK test which will be introduced on 25 March 2013.
31 January 2013
Immigration Alert: Changes to Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Route
On 30 January 2013, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) made a number of changes to the Immigration Rules for the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category to introduce a ‘genuine entrepreneur’ test. The changes will take effect on 31 January 2013 and will affect all applications decided after this date, even if they were submitted prior to 31 January 2013.
28 January 2013
Immigration Alert: Changes in the assessment of good character in citizenship applications
From 13 December 2012, changes were made to the Nationality Instructions that affect anyone applying for citizenship on or after that date. The main changes deal with criminality and how it is assessed in terms of the good character requirement in citizenship applications.
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.