IMMIGRATION

Today, the Migration Advisory Committee (“MAC”), established by the Home Office Secretary, Amber Rudd in July 2017 to examine the impact on the UK labour marker of the UK’s exit from the European Union, issued its final report regarding EEA migration in the UK.

The final MAC’s report made a number of important findings. In particular, attention has been drawn to the fact that according to an official report, EU workers should not have free movement into the UK after Brexit.

The official report states: “If the UK is in a position where it is deciding the main features of its immigration policy our recommendation is that there should be a less restrictive regime for higher-skilled workers than for lower-skilled workers in a system where there is no preference for EEA over non-EEA workers.”

The MAC, however, recommends abolishing the cap on the number of migrants granted Tier 2 (General) visas, which currently apply to skilled workers. In addition, they propose to extend the Tier 2 (General) Scheme to medium-skilled workers in order to avoid potential shortages that might occur after Brexit.

The proposal also includes maintaining existing salary threshold for all migrants in Tier 2, reviewing the Immigration Skills Charge and considering abolishing Resident Labour Market test.

Chan Neill Solicitors stay abreast with all recent news regarding Brexit. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

On 6 April 2016, a new requirement was added to the already consolidated version of the Immigration Rules, giving the Home Office power to refuse an application for entry clearance, leave to enter or remain in the UK on the basis of a litigation debt owed to the Home Office.

“Litigation Debt is a debt owed to the Home Officer where the court or Tribunal has ordered another party to pay its legal cost.”

According to paragraphs 320(23) or V3.14A of the Immigration Rules, UK entry clearance or leave to enter visa application should normally be refused if there is a litigation debt owed to the Home Office. An application made under Appendix Armed Forces or Appendix FM should normally be considered under paragraph 10A or Part 2 of Appendix Armed Forces or paragraph S-EC.3.1 or S-LTR.4.4 of Appendix FM.

As for leave to remain applications, if there is any outstanding litigation cost owed to the Home Office, under paragraphs 322(13) and V3.14A of the Immigration Rules a UK visa application should normally be refused. This applies to all visa routes except of Appendix Armed Forces, Family and Private Life, where an application should be considered under paragraph 10A or Part 2 of Appendix Armed Forces or paragraph S-LTR.4.4 of Appendix FM.

It is important to note that debts of any size are considered by the Home Office to be a serious matter. Even though an application should not automatically be refused, individual circumstances of each case would be considered. Please also note that the Home Office decides an immigration application based on the evidence provided by the applicant and any information provided by the Litigation Finance Team relating to a litigation debt.

If you have a litigation debt owed to the Home Office and you intend to submit an application for leave to enter or remain in the UK, please do not hesitate to contact our immigration team for legal advice.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

Ahead of September 2018 allocation of restricted Certificates of Sponsorship (“CoS”), we would like to share the data regarding August 2018 allocation.

As a brief background, UK businesses seeking to hire non-EU workers from outside of the UK are required to apply for restricted CoS certificates via Sponsorship Management System (“SMS”) system before the 5th day of the month for an allocation on the 11th day of the same month. The annual limit is 20,700 certificates, which are divided into 12 monthly allocations.

Jobs that are on the Shortage Occupation List receive most points, followed by PhD level jobs and graduate roles recruited through a “milkround”.

According to the Home Office Policy Guidance, the application must score a minimum of 21 points to be valid. This was the case in November 2017; however, as of December 2017 for 8 consecutive months, the limit was oversubscribed, whereby the minimum points for restricted CoS allocated hovered around 50.

On 15 June 2018 the Home Office published a new Statement of Changes in which they confirmed that the changes were made to exempt doctors and nurses (who were accounted for 40% of all available places) from the Tier 2 General limit.

This welcomed change has resulted in the minimum points falling as low as to 21 in August 2018. At last, UK based companies have a fair chance of recruiting the brightest and the best talents from outside the UK.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

On 6 September 2018 the Home Secretary and Environment Secretary announced an introduction of a new agricultural worker visa scheme.

This pilot scheme will allow British fruit and vegetables farmers to employ 2,500 workers from outside the EU, who would allegedly alleviate labour shortages during peak production periods.

The new scheme will commence in spring 2019 and will run until the end of December 2020. The Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that the new scheme “will ensure farmers have access to the seasonal labour they need to remain productive and profitable during busy times of the year”.

According to The Guardian, the new scheme has been criticised by farmers. They welcomed the new scheme as “a step to the right direction”, however, it “barely addresses needs of British summer fruit and vegetable growers, who employ 60,000 workers a year."

Introduction of the new pilot scheme for British farmers shows how the Home Office may deal with labour shortages post Brexit.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

The Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa category is commonly used by individuals, who wish to set up, take over or join and being actively involved in running a UK business or businesses. The purpose for UK Government introducing this visa type was aimed at attracting wealthy individuals to the UK, thereby taking advantage of the related economic benefits and job creation for UK resident workers.

However, abuse of the Entrepreneur route has led to the Home Office toughening the Immigration Rules and, as one of the consequences, a “genuine entrepreneur test” was introduced. As a result, providing a business plan in support of an initial application became a mandatory requirement and an in-person interview nowadays is a common practice. Furthermore, the Home Office has imposed restrictions on students when switching to the Tier 1 Entrepreneur route.

With the refusal rate for entry clearance applications or leave to remain applications (when switching from a different visa category within the UK) soared, the Tier 1 Entrepreneur applicants started feeling greater pressure on getting their applications strong enough to succeed. Unfortunately, some applications are still being refused and the most common reasons for refusal are:

• Failure to provide required documentary evidence in the correct format;

• Submission of false representations or false documents;

• Lack of relevant work experience or irrelevant educational background for the chosen business industry;

• Poor performance during the Home Office interview

In case of a refusal, Tier 1 Entrepreneur applicants have right to an administrative review. If it fails, the decision can be challenged by pursuing judicial review via the Upper Tribunal.

If the application is successful, an entry clearance application is usually granted for a period of 3 years and 4 months. Applications for leave to remain, when switching from a different visa category, are granted for 3 years’ period.

Having an initial application being approved is only a start of the journey towards settlement under the Entrepreneur visa route. There are many technical aspects which should be taken into consideration when submitting applications for extension and indefinite leave to remain in the UK. With constantly changing immigration rules, it might be difficult for the Entrepreneur migrants to read and understand the immigration requirements and the Home Office guidance. It is very easy to misread the requirements, which might result in extension application being refused and the only remaining remedy would be a submission of an entry clearance application.

The most common reasons for Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa extension or settlement applications being refused are the failure to create two full time jobs and/or failure to provide required documentary evidence in the correct format.

Alike the initial application, the decision to refuse Entrepreneur extension application can be challenged via administrative review. It allows to raise any permitted case work error and, if an error, in fact, has been made, ask for the decision to be corrected.

The time limit to apply for administrative review is 14 calendar days from the date when the decision on the application is received. If the administrative review fails, the leave might still be protected by Section 3C; whereby, following unsuccessful administrative review, there might be an option of submission of a fresh application or switching to a different visa category.

With many years of experience in assisting Tier 1 Entrepreneur applicants, we believe that it is imperative to seek a legal assistance at every stage of the process. Should you require immigration advice regarding your Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa application or you need assistance with submitting an administrative review or judicial review, please do not hesitate to contact our solicitors and immigration advisers.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

Based on the recent enquires, we understand that there is some confusion as to whether it is possible to extend a Tier 2 ICT (Long-Term Staff) visa (“Tier 2 ICT”), switch to Tier 2 General visa category or/and subsequently obtain settlement in the UK.

We hope that this article would be helpful to understand the difference between Tier 2 ICT and Tier 2 General visa categories and what you can or cannot do.

In brief, Tier 2 General visa category caters to migrants who have a position on offer from a UK-based employer that cannot be filled by a settled worker. Tier 2 ICT visa category, however, is for existing employees of multinational organisations, who are required to be transferred by an overseas organisation to a UK entity, which is linked to that overseas organisation by common ownership or control.

Very often, multinational organisations obtain the UK Sponsorship License in both Tier 2 General and Tier 2 ICT categories and choose to bring employees over to the UK under the Tier 2 ICT rather than under the Tier 2 General route. There is no difference in the UKVI fees between these two visa categories; however, the immigration requirements for Tier 2 ICT migrants are slightly easier. The crucial difference between these two visa categories is ability to settle in the UK.

According to current UK Immigration Rules, only those migrants, who were granted Tier 2 ICT visa under the Rules in place before 6 April 2010, can switch to Tier 2 General visa category and/or settle in the UK.

Those migrants, who come to the UK under the Tier 2 ICT/Established Staff sub-category after 6 April 2010 and before 6 April 2011, are able to switch to Tier 2 General visa category but not settle in the UK.

Having applied under Tier 2 ICT visa category on or after 6 April 2011, it is not possible to switch to Tier 2 General visa category or settle in the UK.

Moreover, from 6 April 2011 Tier 2 ICT Long-Term Staff workers are limited to a maximum of 5 years visa with an extension permitted after this date only if a level of gross-annual package in the UK is £120,000 or higher. In which case, the maximum time an intra-company staff migrant under the long-term sub-category can remain in the UK is 9 years. There is no limit on a maximum time a Tier 2 ICT migrant can stay in the UK having entered the country under this route before 6 April 2011.

The immigration requirements are more straightforward for Tier 2 General applicants; whereby they are able to settle in the UK having spent 5 continuous years in the UK under this visa category. Having said that, that the maximum period a Tier 2 General migrant can remain in the UK is 6 years.

The good news is that it is still possible to apply for indefinite leave to remain under the long residence (10 years route) combining different visa categories including Tier 2 General and most importantly Tier 2 ICT.

So, what happens to Tier 2 ICT migrants who wish to remain in the UK after 5 years and whose gross annual salary isn’t £120,000? Here is where the frustration comes. Very often Tier 2 ICT migrants are not properly advised before entering the UK under the long-term sub-category of Tier 2 ICT route; hence, they would not be aware that after 5 years of continuous residence in the UK they would be required to go back to their country of permanent residence. Especially, it might affect children of Tier 2 ICT workers who might have been engaged in studies in the UK.

Here is some clarification. If a migrant has been sponsored under Tier 2 route and their leave has expired, they must leave the UK and wait 12 months (the “cooling-off period”) before applying again under any Tier 2 visa category. There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, the cooling-off period would not apply to someone, whose prospective gross annual package would be £159,600 or above under Tier 2 General category or £120,000 or higher under the Tier 2 ICT visa category.

As an alternative, Tier 2 migrants might consider switching to or applying from outside of the UK under any other visa categories.

Should you require any further clarification or an immigration advice on your particular case scenario, please do not hesitate to contact our immigration team.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

The new Appendix EU has been introduced into a consolidated version of the Immigration Rules. As of today, students who enrolled to study at the following universities or who is on a payroll of the following NHS Trusts, are eligible to apply for limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain in the UK:

• Liverpool Hope University

• Liverpool John Moores University

• The University of Liverpool

or:

• Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

• Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

• Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust

• Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust

• The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust

• The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust

• Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

An application can be made by an EU citizen or/and a non-EU citizen who has been issued by the Secretary of State with a residence card or a permanent residence card under the EEA Regulations 2016 on the basis of an application made on or after 6 April 2015 as a family member or former family member of an EU national.

Should you require any assistance with an application to be made under Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules, please do not hesitate to contact our Immigration team.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

On 23 August 2018 the Home Office released statistics for in-country visa applications, which were recorded on the Casework Immigration Database. In this article we would like to highlight some of the published data.

A total of 1,173 Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) applications were received in the Q2 2018, which is 29.34% lower than in Q3 2017. There were no statistics released on the number of entrepreneur applications which fell for refusal in Q2 2018, however, according to the data released by the Home Office for Q1 2018, out of 1,140 Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) applications, 16 were refused. For the same quarter, 99.6% of straightforward applications were decided by the Home Office within service standard processing time which is 8 weeks.

Interesting data was released on the sponsorship applications. In Q1 2018 the Home Office received in total 1,522 applications, which were decided within 8 weeks service standard processing time. None of the received in Q1 2018 sponsorship applications were refused.

In-country work in progress figures show that as at 2nd July 2018 the Home Office were dealing with 37,799 complex applications, 24,681 settlement cases, 28,937 European cases and with 26,589 British Citizenship applications. Despite the high number of applications, at Chan Neill, 100% European and British Citizenship applications have been surprisingly decided within 2 months from the submission date.

Further details on in-country statistics can be found on Gov.UK website.

Should you require any assistance or legal advice in relation to your UK Immigration matters, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.

On 20 July 2018 the Home Office published a new Statement of Changes, which introduces a new Appendix EU into a consolidated version of the Immigration Rules.

The new changes concern EU Citizens and non-EU Citizens who have been issued with a residence card or permanent residence card under the Immigration Regulations 2016 based on an application made on or after 6 April 2015. Appendix EU comes into force on 28 August 2018, but only for applicants from 15 hospitals and 3 Liverpool universities.

Under the new Rules, EU nationals and their family members will be required to hold valid status in the UK. Those applicants, who have completed continues qualifying period of 5 years in any of the categories which will be listed in paragraph EU10 of Appendix EU the Rules, would be granted an Indefinite Leave to Remain status.

Those applicants, who at the point of application have not resided in the UK for continues 5 years’ period, would be able to apply for limited leave to remain in the UK.

New pilot scheme would allow the Home Office to address any issues before the scheme fully goes live in March 2019.

Our immigration team has many years of experience assisting EU nationals and their family members with their UK Immigration matters. Should you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

A brief background on Brexit can be found here.

Please note that the information on this page is for general purposes only and is not intended to replace legal advice.