8 May 2013
Croatian Accession to the European Union - Frequently Asked Questions
The Home Office has announced that it is expected that Croatia will join the European Union (EU) on 1 July 2013. It has stated its commitment to applying transitional restrictions on labour market access to nationals of any future Member States of the EU as a matter of course and therefore restrictions will be applied to nationals of Croatia. This update looks at some of the frequently asked questions, which cover the proposed transitional arrangements governing Croatian nationals’ access to the labour market.
11 April 2013
Immigration Update: Premium Service Appointments, New Statement of Intent and Capita to run reminder pilot
Following the introduction of a £100 appointment booking fee from 6 April 2013 for all premium service appointments at the Public Enquiry Office (PEO), the Home Office has just announced the new booking process. When booking the premium appointment online applicants will then need to call the immigration enquiry bureau between 9.00 and 15.00 on 0870 606 7766 by 3pm on the next working day to pay the appointment fee of £100 per applicant in order to confirm the appointment. If the payment is not made within this timescale, the appointment will be cancelled.
9 April 2013
Couples torn apart by UK family migration rules
It has been almost a year since the introduction of new draconian immigration rules relating to family migration. We shared some of our concerns about the changes in a previous blog, ‘New rules for family migration – unrealistic specified documents’, and evidence would now suggest that these rules continue to result in partners being split up.
4 April 2013
Immigration Update: New Charges for Immigration Applications
With effect from 6 April new fee increases for immigration applications will be introduced. The majority of the fees will be increased by 3% however the fees for dependants will rise steeply as the current discount will be reduced from 50% to 25% of the main applicant fee. A document showing the new fees can be found on the UKBA website (click on the link under 'Related Documents' in the top right hand corner).
14 March 2013
Immigration Alert: New Immigration Rules - Changes to Tier 2 and New SOC Codes
The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has announced new Immigration Rules to be introduced on 6 April. The categories of migrants affected by these changes include points-based system migrants, as well as foreign migrant spouses of British nationals. New SOC codes have also just been announced and come into effect on 6 April 2013.