Published by Admin on February 6th, 2012 in UK immigration
Beginning 6 April 2012 the UK Border Agency (UKBA) will require all applicants applying to remain in the UK under Tier 1 (General), Tier 1(Entrepreneur) and Tier 2 of the UK points-based system to have a completed language test prior to applying for a visa.
immigration originally allowed applicants to apply before taking the English Language test because the test was not easily available to all applicants. Now the English Language test availability has increased and immigrants should now be able to take the test in enough time submitting their UK visa application.
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Published by Admin on January 31st, 2012 in UK immigration
The Government’s determination to cut immigration is having a devastating effect on private higher education, a new report revealed yesterday.
Prohibiting some international students from working part-time to support their studies in the UK must be reversed, the Centre Forum think tank argued. “Since these controls were introduced in 2011, enrolment numbers are estimated to have dropped by around 70 per cent,” the report said.
The report quotes Dr John Sanders, who was principal of London’s Cavendish College until its closure as an independent college this month.
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Published by Admin on January 26th, 2012 in UK immigration
A breakdown of communication between immigration officials led to the “lighter touch” UK immigration officers used at passport and visa checks last year, a Parliamentary inquiry consisting of MPs (UK members of parliament) has said. The report published this week by the Commons home affairs committee said that a “highly troubling” lack of supervision led to passport and visa controls being relaxed far too frequently. The relaxed immigration controls led to the dismissal of the UK border force chief, Brodie Clark.
The report states they were “shocked” at the number of times the immigration checks were relaxed. They found the immigration checks had been relaxed for health and safety reasons, to avoid a baggage crisis, because there were excessive queues in the arrivals hall, or to avoid a potential delay in flight schedules. In total, the MPs say that passport and visa checks were waived at least 50 times between May and July last summer at Heathrow and other airports.
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Published by Admin on January 12th, 2012 in UK immigration
Beginning 1 January 2012, Taiwanese youth can apply for the UK’s Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme visa. The UK visa enables young people from participating countries to come and experience life in the UK under the Tier 5 visa of the points-based system.
Taiwan will join the list of countries and territories that participate in the UK’s youth mobility scheme. The other Countries on the scheme are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan and Monaco. Every year, the UK government allocates a number of visas to be distributed under the Tier 5 youth mobility scheme for each country and territory.
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Published by Admin on January 9th, 2012 in UK immigration
The UK’s North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) have called for a relaxation of UK immigration controls in the North East region arguing that businesses are being held back by a lack of skilled labour.
NECC is a business organization in the UK that represents more than 4,000 companies in the North East of England. They are seeking changes in UK immigration legislation that takes into account regional labour market needs and available skills. This follows a study they conducted which shows the importance of foreign workers to large businesses in the region. The NECC Workforce Survey said that many businesses with more than 50 employees are reliant on overseas workers.
“With unemployment expected to peak in 2012, business is expected to play its part in creating growth and jobs. The research shows that many firms are unable to find the skilled workers they need in the UK,” said NECC chief executive James Ramsbotham.
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Published by Admin on January 4th, 2012 in UK immigration
The UK Border Agency, along with its commercial partner Gerry’s, has now launched a premium lounge service at its Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Pakistan to help facilitate the processing of visas for local applicants.
All UK visa applicants can benefit from the new facility located in Karachi where a UK visa can be issued within 15 working days on receipt of a complete application with relevant documents.
The premium service should lead to faster services to the business community in Pakistan and also make it quicker and easier for Pakistani people to obtain visit visas to attend upcoming UK events like the golden jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II and the London Olympics. The service includes a dedicated lounge for visa applicants that provides a personalised service for the submission of their applications and passports for visa processing. UK visa applicants can also receive free SMS alerts regarding the status of their UK visa application.
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Published by Admin on December 22nd, 2011 in UK immigration
The UK and Ireland have signed an important agreement reinforcing their commitment to preserving the Common Travel Area (CTA) while further cracking down on illegal immigration and spurious asylum claims.
The countries signed a statement working towards joint standards for entry and ultimately enhanced electronic border systems to identify those with no right to enter the CTA before they arrive at the border.
An accompanying memorandum will promote the exchange of information, such as fingerprint biometrics and biographical details, particularly from ‘high risk’ countries, as part of the visa issuing process.
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Published by Admin on December 15th, 2011 in Global Visas, UK immigration
UK Immigration has announced that the Ministry of Justice will be introducing fee charges for some asylum and immigration appeals beginning 19 December 2011.
Immigrants or asylum seekers who want to appeal against a decision notice dated 19 December 2011 or later will need to pay a fee. The appeal fee will apply to most categories of UK visas and decisions. This will not affect any decision notices that are dated before 19 December.
Appeals may be made in some types of visa application if you think that UK immigration officials have made an error in refusing your visa application.
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Published by Admin on December 9th, 2011 in Global Visas, UK immigration
Hospitality and tourism industry leaders are pressing the British government to reform the UK visa system, claiming that the slow processing of Visitor Visa applications and government red tape are negatively affecting the growth of the hospitality industry and discouraging visitors from coming to the UK.
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) has written to the prime minister about the future of the tourism sector. In the letter, BHA chief executive, Ufi Ibrahim, said that government action is required to create the necessary conditions in which new jobs can be created in the hospitality industry in order to help improve the economy,
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Published by Admin on November 28th, 2011 in Global Visas, UK immigration
The UK government is recruiting staff from embassies abroad and civil servants to replace immigration officials at ports and airports who will join a nationwide public sector strike next week, UK immigration officials announced today. The strike could cause long queues at passport and UK visa controls.
More than two million workers, including as many as 18,000 UK immigration officials, are expected to strike over pensions in what unions say will be the biggest walkout of state workers for a generation.
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