Some of the key changes has been summarised below:-
Changes relating to Tier 2 (General)
Flexibility is being introduced to enable students to apply to switch to Tier 2 after their studies as soon as they have completed their courses. Currently, non-PhD students cannot apply to switch within the UK until they have received their final results.
An exemption from the Resident Labour Market Test is being added to posts to be held by researcher applicants who are recipients of supernumerary research Awards and Fellowships, and for established research team members sponsored by either a Higher Education Institution or a Research Council.
Pay rates for health sector workers are being brought into line with pay scales in England and each of the devolved administrations and consolidated in a new table.
Provision is being made to allow nurses to be sponsored under Tier 2 if they are undertaking an approved programme with a view to returning to practice.
Changes to indefinite leave to remain in work categories
From 11 January 2018,the requirement of absences from the U.K. of not more than 180 days per year to qualify for settlement will be extended to include partners of the Points-Based System Migrants as well as main applicants unless exempted.
An amendment is being made so that Tier 2 Migrants are no longer required to have been continuously employed throughout the qualifying period to be eligible for settlement. The provision is unnecessary as a Tier 2 migrant who is no longer working for their Sponsor is subject to curtailment.
Changes relating to Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)
Currently, the job creation rules require jobs to have existed for at least 12 months during the applicant’s most recent period of leave. A change is being made to enable applicants to apply even if their current leave was granted less than 12 months ago; in such cases, the jobs must have existed for at least 12 months before the date of the current application.
Clarifications are being made where the funds are currently held by another business, which is not the business the applicant is using to score points, that business is considered to be a third party providing the funding.
To prevent recycling of funds between applicants, a change is being made so that applicants cannot rely on funds or investment that have been provided by another Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrant, or that migrant’s business or close family member. Who is considered to be a close family member will depend on the facts and circumstances in an individual application.
Furthermore, a clarification is being made to the rule which excludes buying the business from its previous owner from being considered as a qualifying investment, to clarify that this means buying any business from its previous owner.
Changes relating to Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)
The number of available places in this visa category will rise from 1,0 to 2,0 per year. These additional 1,0 places to be made available will not be distributed between the five Designated Competent Bodies (DCBs) at the start of each year but, rather, they will be set aside as a pool of unallocated places that can be accessed on a first-come first-served basis by any DCB that has exhausted its allocation. It also proposes to enable current world leaders in their fields (those endorsed under a DCB’s “exceptional talent” criteria) to qualify for indefinite leave to remain in the UK after 3 years of continuous residence.
Changes relating to family members of the Points-Based System migrants
The ‘genuine and subsisting’ relationship requirement is being introduced for PBS dependants. Minor technical changes are being made to the rules on maintenance funds –a child applicant of a Points-Based Migrant cannot rely on funds held in a parent’s bank account unless that parent is either the main applicant or currently in the UK.
Changes relating to electronic entry clearance
Home Office is proposing to commence issuing entry clearance in electronic form. This will initially be trialled with specified groups with a view to the general introduction of entry clearance in electronic form at a later date. Currently, the Immigration Rules require an entry clearance to be endorsed in a valid passport or other identity document. The amendment to the rules will allow entry clearance to be issued both in an electronic form and by endorsement in a valid passport or identity document.
Applicants who hold an entry clearance issued in electronic form will not be required to present such an entry clearance to an Immigration Officer on arrival in the UK. The issue of such an entry clearance will be checked electronically.
Changes relating to visitors
Currently, a person holding ‘visitor visa’ can visit the UK for business, tourism, to get married or for other visit purposes. However, they must obtain a separate visa in order to transit the UK. The rules are being introduced which will enable visitors who hold a standard or marriage/civil partnership visit visa to transit the UK without the need to obtain a separate visa. Transit visas will still be available for transit only visits. The rule changes also clarify that visitors will not be permitted to study at an academy or a school maintained by a local authority.
Criminal record certificates
Changes have been made to the wording relating to the obtaining of criminal record certificates, to say the certificates must be obtained from each country where the applicant has been present for 12 months or more in the last 10 years. The wording in the rules has changed from ‘resident’ to ‘present’ and therefore a person who has been present in a country for 12 months or more cumulatively over a 10-year period will need to apply for a criminal record certificate from that country.
Changes relating to domestic workers
The minimum age limit for Overseas Domestic Workers has been increased to ensure that the worker has consented to their employment terms and conditions, and worked under those terms and conditions for a minimum of 12 months, as an adult. Measures have been introduced to prevent overseas diplomats bringing extended family members to the UK in the guise of domestic workers, in order to circumvent the rules governing individuals permitted to accompany diplomats as dependants.
Comments