Thursday, June 29, 2017
Immigration Matters: NMC to lower IELTS English language score for 7.00...
Immigration Matters: NMC to lower IELTS English language score for 7.00...: My sources tell me that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) are about to reduce the IELTS English language score from an overall band s...
NMC to lower IELTS English language score from 7.00 to 6.5 for international Nurses to work in the UK
My sources tell me that the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) are about to reduce the IELTS English language score from an overall band score of 7.00 back down to 6.5 for international overseas trained nurses applying for registration to work in the UK.
The stringent IELTS requirement has been a stumbling block for many overseas trained nurses who want to apply for a Tier 2 working visa (work permit) to work in the UK as a Nurse (RGN). Even nurses with a UK degree have failed the test a number of times and had to leave the UK as they had run out of time with the Home Office.
Before 2007, nurses had to achieve a score of 6.5 in all four elements - Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. This was increased following consultations during a time when the government was trying to put the brakes on non-EU immigration.
The move follows news that NMC (the body which regulates and registers nurses) registrations by EU and non-EU trained nurses have reached worryingly low levels. In December 2016, just 100 EU nurses applied to join the register, compared with 1300 just six months earlier. Earlier this year, we reported that the number of EU nurses registering to working the UK had plummeted by 90%, which NMC head, Jackie Smith blamed on the Brexit effect.
The Nursing Times reported in May that the regulator was 'taking stock' of the English controversial language testing system requirement,which is actually more like an IQ test, after some NHS Trust chief nurses and nursing agencies warned that the exam was blocking overseas nurse recruitment.
There are thousands of nursing job vacancies in the UK in NHS hospitals and nursing homes. If you would like to migrate to the UK on a working visa as a nurse you should visit the NMC website. Most employers will expect you to have at least registered and preferably, where applicable, taken the online test and passed the IELTS exam.
See also:
The stringent IELTS requirement has been a stumbling block for many overseas trained nurses who want to apply for a Tier 2 working visa (work permit) to work in the UK as a Nurse (RGN). Even nurses with a UK degree have failed the test a number of times and had to leave the UK as they had run out of time with the Home Office.
The move follows news that NMC (the body which regulates and registers nurses) registrations by EU and non-EU trained nurses have reached worryingly low levels. In December 2016, just 100 EU nurses applied to join the register, compared with 1300 just six months earlier. Earlier this year, we reported that the number of EU nurses registering to working the UK had plummeted by 90%, which NMC head, Jackie Smith blamed on the Brexit effect.
The Nursing Times reported in May that the regulator was 'taking stock' of the English controversial language testing system requirement,which is actually more like an IQ test, after some NHS Trust chief nurses and nursing agencies warned that the exam was blocking overseas nurse recruitment.
There are thousands of nursing job vacancies in the UK in NHS hospitals and nursing homes. If you would like to migrate to the UK on a working visa as a nurse you should visit the NMC website. Most employers will expect you to have at least registered and preferably, where applicable, taken the online test and passed the IELTS exam.
See also:
Monday, June 26, 2017
EU migrants welcome to remain in UK indefinitely as Prime Minister outlines special settled status deal
Prime Minister Theresa May announced today plans to allow EU
citizens living in the UK to remain here as residents following Brexit designed
to put their "anxiety to rest".
Prime Minister Theresa May
Briefing MP’s in the parliament on the outcome of Friday’s
EU summit, Mrs May confirmed that all EU nationals lawfully resident for at
least five years will be able to apply for "settled status" and to
bring spouses and children, the BBC reports.
EU migrants who arrived after a date yet to be agreed will
have two years to "regularise their status" but will not enjoy the
same rights.
The government has published a document summarising the UK's
offer to EU citizens, which you can read here.
May said she wanted to give reassurance and certainty to the
3.2 million EU citizens living in the UK - in addition to citizens of the three
EEA countries and Switzerland – as they are an "integral part of the
economic and cultural fabric" of the UK.
However, she wants any deal on their future legal status and
rights to be reciprocal and also give certainty to the 1.2 million British
expats living on the continent after the UK leaves the EU - expected to be on
29 March 2019.
This promise could prove difficult to keep, as EU countries, such as France
and Spain, already have less advantageous conditions for British expats than
offered to EU citizens living and working in the UK.
For instance, retired Brits are now facing
the bleak prospect of paying for expensive health insurance or jumping on an
Easyjet flight home every time they need treatment. This option could become closed to them if they are no longer resident in the UK.
The main points of the UK's
proposal to EU citizens are:
- EU migrants granted settled status will be able to live, work, study and claim benefits as they can now
- The important cut-off date for eligibility will be no earlier than 29 March 2017 and no later than 29 March 2019
- EU family members of EU citizens living abroad will be allowed to return and apply for settled status
- Those EU nationals in the UK for less than five years at the specified date will be allowed to continue living and working in the UK and once resident for five years, they can apply for settled status
- Migrants arriving after the cut-off point will be able to stay temporarily, however, they should have "no expectation" that they will be granted permanent residence
- A period of "blanket residence permission" with less of the onerous requirements may apply to give officials time to process applications to stay in the UK
- The Home Office will no longer request evidence that EU citizens who weren't working held "comprehensive sickness insurance"
Those granted settled status, which is the same as ‘indefinite
leave to remain’ (ILR) or permanent residence, will be "treated as if they were
UK citizens for healthcare, benefits and pensions".
Mrs May added that the process of application – currently an
85-page form - would be simplified and a "light touch" approach applied
to EU citizens, although she did say that criminal record checks will still be carried out when pressed by opposition MP's.
Non-EU citizens will continue to endure the ever-changing
lengthy Home Office forms and increasing high fees in order to gain indefinite leave
to remain in the UK.
"Under these plans, no EU citizen currently in the UK
lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU," Mrs
May said.
The widely expected plan should be good news for migrants
worried about their post-Brexit status in the UK. Since Britons voted to leave
the EU last year there has been a sharp increase in applications for ILR and UK
citizenship. It has been suggested that those who have already obtained ILR may still have to apply for settled status.
Croatian citizens are currently subject to a 7 year restriction - similar to those imposed on previous EU entrants Bulgaria and Romania - on working from the date Croatia joined the EU.
Croatian citizens are currently subject to a 7 year restriction - similar to those imposed on previous EU entrants Bulgaria and Romania - on working from the date Croatia joined the EU.
Despite fears that hundreds of thousands or European
citizens living here would return home, most seem to have remained as they have
already made their life in the UK either running businesses or holding down good jobs.
UK property prices have started to fall slightly following the Brexit vote and recent general election which saw the Conservatives lose their overall majority.
See also:
Immigration Matters: EU migrants welcome to remain in UK indefinitely a...
Immigration Matters: EU migrants welcome to remain in UK indefinitely a...: Prime Minister Theresa May announced today plans to allow EU citizens living in the UK to remain here as residents following Brexit design...
EU migrants welcome to remain in UK indefinitely as Prime Minister outlines special settled status deal
Prime Minister Theresa May announced today plans to allow EU
citizens living in the UK to remain here as residents following Brexit designed
to put their "anxiety to rest".
Briefing MP’s in the parliament on the outcome of Friday’s
EU summit, Mrs May confirmed that all EU nationals lawfully resident for at
least five years will be able to apply for "settled status" and to
bring spouses and children, the BBC reports.
EU migrants who arrived after a date yet to be agreed will
have two years to "regularise their status" but will not enjoy the
same rights.
The government has published a document summarising the UK's
offer to EU citizens, which you can read here.
May said she wanted to give reassurance and certainty to the
3.2 million EU citizens living in the UK - in addition to citizens of the three
EEA countries and Switzerland – as they are an "integral part of the
economic and cultural fabric" of the UK.
However, she wants any deal on their future legal status and
rights to be reciprocal and also give certainty to the 1.2 million British
expats living on the continent after the UK leaves the EU - expected to be on
29 March 2019.
This promise could prove difficult to keep, as EU countries, such as France
and Spain, already have less advantageous conditions for British expats than
offered to EU citizens living and working in the UK.
For instance, retired Brits are now facing
the bleak prospect of paying for expensive health insurance or jumping on an
Easyjet flight home every time they need treatment. This option could become closed to them if they are no longer resident in the UK.
The main points of the UK's
proposal to EU citizens are:
- EU migrants granted settled status will be able to live, work, study and claim benefits as they can now
- The important cut-off date for eligibility will be no earlier than 29 March 2017 and no later than 29 March 2019
- EU family members of EU citizens living abroad will be allowed to return and apply for settled status
- Those EU nationals in the UK for less than five years at the specified date will be allowed to continue living and working in the UK and once resident for five years, they can apply for settled status
- Migrants arriving after the cut-off point will be able to stay temporarily, however, they should have "no expectation" that they will be granted permanent residence
- A period of "blanket residence permission" with less of the onerous requirements may apply to give officials time to process applications to stay in the UK
- The Home Office will no longer request evidence that EU citizens who weren't working held "comprehensive sickness insurance"
Those granted settled status, which is the same as ‘indefinite
leave to remain’ (ILR) or permanent residence, will be "treated as if they were
UK citizens for healthcare, benefits and pensions".
Mrs May added that the process of application – currently an
85-page form - would be simplified and a "light touch" approach applied
to EU citizens, although she did say that criminal record checks will still be carried out when pressed by opposition MP's.
Non-EU citizens will continue to endure the ever-changing
lengthy Home Office forms and increasing high fees in order to gain indefinite leave
to remain in the UK.
"Under these plans, no EU citizen currently in the UK
lawfully will be asked to leave at the point the UK leaves the EU," Mrs
May said.
The widely expected plan should be good news for migrants
worried about their post-Brexit status in the UK. Since Britons voted to leave
the EU last year there has been a sharp increase in applications for ILR and UK
citizenship. It has been suggested that those who have already obtained ILR may still have to apply for settled status.
Croatian citizens are currently subject to a 7 year restriction - similar to those imposed on previous EU entrants Bulgaria and Romania - on working from the date Croatia joined the EU.
Croatian citizens are currently subject to a 7 year restriction - similar to those imposed on previous EU entrants Bulgaria and Romania - on working from the date Croatia joined the EU.
Despite fears that hundreds of thousands or European
citizens living here would return home, most seem to have remained as they have
already made their life in the UK either running businesses or holding down good jobs.
UK property prices have started to fall slightly following the Brexit vote and recent general election which saw the Conservatives lose their overall majority.
See also:
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Immigration Matters: UK election splits the country and calls for a sof...
Immigration Matters: UK election splits the country and calls for a sof...: The UK General Election is finally over resulting in a hung parliament, with Theresa May's Conservative party winning 318 seats - eigh...
UK election splits the country and calls for a softer Brexit approach
The UK General Election is finally over resulting in a hung
parliament, with Theresa May's Conservative party winning 318 seats - eight
short of an outright majority.
Mrs May won more seats than any other party and can still
form a government, courtesy of ten DUP MP's in Northern Ireland. However,
she did not obtain the desired "mandate" to negotiate a hard Brexit
with EU leaders and ‘remainers’ in her own party could push to stay in the
single market, while others could seek to derail the whole project.
If either of the above scenarios came true the whole nation-dividing
EU referendum and Brexit dream will have been for nothing, as nothing much will
have changed – other than the UK losing its seat at the European table.
Free movement will have to stay as part of any single market
deal, which effectively throws any net migration targets out of the
window.
Remain campaigners and repentant EU leavers could be
forgiven for sighing a breath of relief, although May has vowed to keep moving
forward with ‘business as usual’ style negotiations starting this month.
The election result shows that country has spoken. The people
do not want a hard "no deal is better than a bad deal" exit from the
EU, as illustrated by the collapse in UKIP vote and young voters turning to
Labour. If a second ‘in/out’ referendum were to take place now, what do you
think the result would be?
In the meantime, life goes on as usual for most us (not, unfortunately for those MP in office) and we have to carry on making our own 'economy' and driving the vehicle towards our passion and goals.
The UK is still a popular destination for working and wealthy migrants seeking a safe country with a strong economy and rule of law.
Europe is the most sought after region in terms of high net worth immigration, accounting for over half of the total number of global citizenship applications, with the Caribbean in second place, followed by North America in third. Recent studies conducted by global immigration experts, ranked the Cyprus Citizenship by Investment Program among the “top ten best in the world”.
See also:
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