How will UK Immigration changes on 6 April affect you?

This year the Home Office has implemented a number of key changes to the UK Immigration Rules, including introducing recommendations by the Migration Advisory Committee to managed migration and Tier 2 working visas, most of which will take effect on 6 April 2017.

Tier 2 sponsoring employers and those applying or Tier 2 working visas or work permits to work in the UK should take note of the following new requirements:

Immigration Skills Charge

As announced by UK Immigration Matters last month, an Immigration Skills Charge of £1000 per skilled worker per year will be levied on employers in the Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (ICT) categories, reduced to £364 for small and charitable sponsors.  The money raised by the tax will be used  for training to help reduce skills gaps in the UK workforce. The charge will not apply to Ph.D.-level occupations, ICT graduate trainees, and those switching in country from Tier 4 student visas to Tier 2

Overseas Criminal Record Certificates

The UK Home Office is extending the requirement to provide criminal record certificates for certain occupations to Tier 2 (General) applicants and their adult dependent partners. The requirement will not apply to those applying under the Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer (ICT)) route.

Migrants applying from overseas after 6 April 2017 where the main applicant is coming to work in the UK in the education, health, or social care sector will be required to obtain criminal record certificates.

Immigration Health Surcharge

First introduced in 2015, non-EEA migrants applying for Tier 2 (ICT) and their dependants will be required to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge of £200 per person per year. This also applies to non-EEA nationals in the UK and applying to extend their visas.

Tier 2 Application changes

The Home Office frequently change application forms, so always check the latest version before submitting an application. Minimum salary threshold for Tier 2 (General) experienced workers is increasing by £5000 from £25,000 to £30,000, but will be held at £20,800 for “new entrants”.

The Tier 2 category covers UK companies employing or “sponsoring” non-EEA nationals to work in skilled jobs in the UK. The threshold and entry bar has been rising for a number of years for non-EEA workers and there are far less migrants coming to work or study in the UK, in comparison to the Blair government years and we are now seeing net migration falling.

The main changes include:

• A temporary exemption to the Tier 2 (General) minimum salary threshold will apply for nurses, medical radiographers, paramedics, and secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, and Mandarin until July 2019.
• The Shortage Occupation List (jobs listed in this list mean sponsors do not have to carry out Resident Labour Market Tests) has been amended to include secondary school teachers in combined science, computer science, and Mandarin. However, secondary school teachers in chemistry are being removed from the Shortage Occupation List.
• The minimum salary for indefinite leave to remain applicants submitted on or after 6 April 2022 will increase to £37,900.

Relocation of High-value Business to the UK

In order to encourage the relocation of a high-value business and significant new inward investment projects into the UK, some changes are being made to Resident Labour Market Test where the sponsor is a newly registered  branch or subsidiary of an overseas business and the investment involves new capital of £27 million or the creation of at least 21 new British jobs.

Visitor visa rules have been changed so applications for visitor visas can be made at any post in the world designated by the UK Home Office.

EU Passport in 6 Months

Britain is not the only country trying to attract high net worth individuals and businesses. EU countries like Cyprus, Malta and Portugal all offer citizenship, and EU passports in return for varying levels of direct investment,

EU member Cyprus offers probably the fastest and most flexible route to citizenship with no residency requirement and a 6 month application process for individuals with at least 2 million Euros to invest in Cypriot property via their investor programme.

See also:

Fines issued to landlords under right-to-rent offences

UK Visa £1,000 Immigration Skills charge on Tier 2 working Visas starts 6 April 2017

The new Immigration Skills Charge for large numbers of Tier 2 holders will come into force from 6 April 2017.  The Home Office levy will be imposed on UK employers holding Tier 2 sponsorship licences employing non-EEA migrants on Tier 2 working visas.

UK Home Office

The Guardian recently reported that the skills levy on foreign workers could be extended to EU and EEA migrants post Brexit in order to reduce immigration and encourage employers to hire British workers first. Britain’s policy on European migrants resident in the UK has yet to be decided and will probably form part of ongoing negotiations once article 50 has been triggered later this month.

Net migration to the UK fell by 49,000 last year following the Brexit vote, but more likely due to earlier curbs on immigration. Meanwhile, thousands of EU citizens are applying for UK passports and Indefinite Leave to Remain (permanent residence) in the panic to beat possible Home Office restrictions.

The UK Immigration Minister, Robert Goodwill, has stated that that British businesses were over reliant on migrant labour and said that an apprenticeship levy would be put in place later in 2017, in order to help meet the government’s pledge to train more than three million apprentices prior to the 2020 general election.

Mr Goodwill said: “In April this year we are also bringing in the immigration skills charge for non-EEA skilled workers. If you want to recruit an Indian computer programmer on a four-year contract on top of the existing visa charges and the resident labour market test there will be a fee of £1,000 per year.

“So for a four-year contract that employer will need to pay a £4,000 immigration skills charge. That is something that currently applies to non-EU and it has been suggested to us that could be applied to EU.”.

In excess of 16,000 EU citizens were granted UK citizenship last year, indicating that despite Brexit and all the 'doom and gloom' predictions many Europeans want to remain living in Britain.

The UK is an attractive place to work, start a business or buy property, with no restrictions on foreign buyers and a vibrant mortgage market with record low interest rates. Last week, a leading mortgage lender announced that it was introducing a fixed rate mortgage with an interest rate of .99%.

If you would like to learn more about investing in UK property, I have a limited number of complimentary tickets to a LIVE EVENT  - Beginners Property Course (held in the UK), which will give you the basic knowledge and techniques to get started as a property investor. If you are interest, email me your full name and telephone number to euukimmigration@gmail.com.

See also:

Fines issued to landlords under right-to-rent offences

Turn Your Passion into Profit

Minimum Salary for Tier 2 Work Permits to Rise to £30,000 as UK Immigration gets Tougher for Non-EU Migrants

If you think 2016 was a tough year for non-EU migrants, 2017 is about to get even harder, especially for anyone considering coming to the UK on a Tier 2 (General) working visa, such as a nurse.

The Immigration Act 2016 will see the Home Office bring in sweeping changes from April to the Tier 2 General work permit rules, including increasing the minimum salary requirement to £30,000, with no transitional arrangement for those sponsored between 24 November 2016 and April 2017. 

Nursing will remain on the Shortage Occupation List, as there are still thousands of nurse jobs in the UK. But for the first time employers will be required to carry out a ‘Resident Labour Market Test’ before assigning a nurse a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS), even if the job is on the national shortage list.

The new minimum salary will automatically exclude many jobs and is above the UK average income, such as band 5 NHS nurses who start as around £26,000,

In addition, a new ‘Genuineness’ test will mean that Tier 2 applicants must satisfy the Home Office or entry clearance officer that they genuinely intend to undertake and are capable of undertaking the job for which the CoS is assigned.This could include attending an interview for entry clearance visas or further leave to remain.

Employers will be hit by a new tax or 'Immigration Skills Charge' of £1000 per year, per migrant to 'encourage' them to invest in training resident workers. There will be an exemption for PhD occupations, Tier 2 (ICT-Graduate Trainees) and Tier 4 students switching to Tier 2. The Home Office will also have more powers to search and seize documents from an employer, such as wage slips and time sheets, in order to build a case against them and an illegal worker.

Migrants will no longer have a 28-day ‘grace period’ in which to apply for further leave to remain, which means you could be branded a visa overstayer on your immigration record.

UK settlement rules are being tightened from April 2016, after which some Tier 2 visa holders will have to be earning a minimum of £35,000 per annum in order to apply for permanent residency or indefinite leave to remain. If you do not meet the salary requirement, you will not be able to stay in the UK for longer than six years and will not be able to reapply for another Tier 2 visa until you have completed a 12-month ‘cooling-off’ period outside the UK.

The Brexit, or leave EU vote, will do little to curb European immigration in the next few years as arguments rage over what type of exit Britain wants. This week the Supreme Court ruled that the Article 50 process, the mechanism required to trigger UK's exit from the European Union, must be put before MP's in Parliament. And with EU leaders insisting that free movement of labour is non-negotiable when it comes to thrashing out any trade deals, it looks like the only option for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to reduce immigration to the UK is to continue restricting non-EU migrants.

Across the pond in America today, Donald Trump has announced a halt on the U.S. refugee immigration programme for a temporary period. In his inauguration speech Trump spoke of 'America first' and wants to boost employment for resident workers. However, America still has a shortage of around one million nurses and the IT sector in the U.S and UK needs to attract the brightest and best for their growing digital economy.

The Immigration Act will have a number of consequences for Tier 2 employers and migrant workers. I will be giving you further guidance on the settlement (ILR) changes, as well as other changes, such as Tier 4 student visa switching rules, in future articles.

See also:

Uber offering free English courses to migrant worker drivers

Immigration Act 2016 - main highlights in a nutshell

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