News
30.10.2024 - The Autumn Budget 2024: A Balancing Act for British Businesses
As the leaves fall and we approach Halloween, this year's Autumn Budget has unveiled a series of significant changes to the UK's tax landscape that are likely to send ripples of concern through the business community.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, bound by the government's manifesto pledges to avoid raising income tax, national insurance, and VAT for "working people," has had to look elsewhere to find the £40 billion needed to stabilise public finances.
Tax Hikes on Employers and Investors
One of the most talked-about changes is the increase in employer national insurance contributions, which is s...
30.10.2024 - Abolishing the Non-Dom Regime: A New Era for UK Taxation
In a significant move, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced the abolition of the non-dom tax regime, fulfilling a key promise from the Labour Party's manifesto. This decision comes amid ongoing debates about tax fairness and aims to ensure that those who call the UK home contribute equitably to the nation’s economy.
The Non-Dom System Explained
The non-dom regime, which has been in place for over 200 years, allowed individuals residing in the UK to exclude foreign income and gains from taxation, provided they claimed non-domiciled status. This system has faced extensive criticism for enablin...
23.10.2024 - Care home operator’s sponsor licence revoked for supplying sponsored workers to third parties
As the crackdown on sponsor licence compliance continues, in R (Tendercare Management Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 2154 (Admin) the High Court has considered another case involving the revocation of a care home operator’s sponsor licence.
In contrast to previous revocation cases, which primarily involved exaggerated or incorrect job descriptions of sponsored workers, the fundamental issue in this case was the supply of sponsored workers to other care providers. There were also issues with the care home operator’s recording of sick leave.
The revocation was chal...
03.10.2024 - Do the skilled worker salary threshold increases create an equal pay issue for employers?
In April 2024, significant changes were made to the salary thresholds for the skilled worker visa route. The general salary threshold rose from £26,200 to £38,700, along with rises to the various salary concessions including for new entrants and PhD holders. There was also a raise to the ‘going rates’ for particular roles, resulting in the salaries being matched to the 50% percentile of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings rather than the 25% percentile.
The end result is that for many occupations and sectors, an applicant requires a higher than average salary to secure skilled worker spons...
30.09.2024 - Upper Tribunal provides guidance on the deportation of EU nationals
What protections under EU free movement law does someone with status under the EU Settlement Scheme enjoy if they are facing deportation due to committing a criminal offence after 31 December 2020?
This question was considered by the Upper Tribunal in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Vargova (unreported, UI-2023-004566, EA/12363/2022). The answer: they have procedural rights such as the right to be notified of a decision and how to appeal it, the right to an effective remedy, and the right to a fair hearing in respect of any challenge to the decision in question. However, they do n...
19.09.2024 - Former Tax Official Highlights Challenges in UK's Tax Administration
We have observed that in recent months and years, communication with HMRC has become increasingly challenging. Our concerns are not unique; other professionals share similar views and have expressed their concerns through news articles and social media posts. Additionally, it is worth noting that similar opinions were published in separate LinkedIn posts by individuals not connected with each other, and their viewpoints are identical. To provide a firsthand perspective, we turn our attention to a former HMRC employee who articulates these shared concerns.
In a thought-provoking and candid refl...
18.09.2024 - The risks of making a fee waiver application for the purpose of “buying time” to make a different application
In some cases, if you cannot afford to pay the fee for your immigration or nationality application, or if paying the fee would result in the needs of a child not being met, you can request a fee waiver.
In this post we explain the variety of reasons that it is a very bad idea to submit a fee waiver application purely for the purpose of getting section 3C leave, with no eligibility for or intention of making the subsequent immigration application mentioned in the fee waiver application. The consequences of doing this are likely to be very severe for both the applicants. This can include impriso...
16.09.2024 - Challenge to refusal of Tier 1 Entrepreneur
An applicant has successfully challenged the Home Office’s refusal of his application for further leave to remain in the old Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route after obvious errors were made both procedurally and in the refusal letter. The case is R (on the application of Ghadam) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Discretion – further enquiries – s31(2A)) [2024] UKUT 281 (IAC).
Background
The applicant is an Iranian citizen who arrived in the UK with leave to enter as a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) Migrant on 11 July 2019. The applicant registered a business “Robin Investment Ltd” on 21 August 20...
11.09.2024 - New Maintenance Requirement for International Students from 02.01.2025
There is a maintenance requirement for student applicants to demonstrate they have funds to support themselves for each month of their course (up to nine months). This level of funds for international students to demonstrate was originally matched with the maintenance loans available for home students, but the maintenance requirement for international students has not been updated since 2020.
The change increases the maintenance requirement for international students to match the maintenance loans available for home students for the 2024-25 academic year.
The new rules have also updated the ...
27.08.2024 - Government pledges new support to prepare for EU border checks
The new government measures shall include the following:
- new £10.5 million funding to help prepare for new EU checks at the border in autumn
- money will support the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone and Eurostar at St Pancras to help avoid queues
Ahead of upcoming changes at the border being implemented by the EU, the government has today (27 August 2024) announced £10.5 million to support preparations at the Port of Dover, Eurostar and Eurotunnel.
This autumn, the EU will introduce the Entry/Exit System (EES) – a new digital border system. Travellers from the UK and other non-E...
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