News
May 21, 2020 - UK mortgage payment holidays extended for a further three months
Homeowners struggling to pay their mortgage due to Coronavirus will be able to extend their mortgage payment holiday for a further three months, or start making reduced payments, as proposed by the government.
The application period for mortgage holidays has also been extended until 31 October, to allow those who have not accessed one but are experiencing financial difficulty to access the support.
More than 1.8 million homeowners have taken a three-month mortgage holiday since the scheme was announced in March to help borrowers in financial difficulty because of the coronavirus crisis, accord...
May 21, 2020 - Home Secretary announces new public health measures for all UK arrivals
New measures from 08 June 2020 at the UK border to guard against a second wave of coronavirus infections have been announced by the Home Secretary today.
Contact locator form
All arriving passengers will be required to fill this in to provide contact and travel information so they can be contacted if they, or someone they may have been in contact with develops the disease.
Self-isolation
Passengers arriving in the UK will be required to self-isolate for 14 days and could be contacted regularly throughout this period to ensure compliance.
Enforcement
Anyone failing to comply with the mandatory ...
May 20, 2020 - Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 21 May 2020)
Switching visas inside the UK
As it has been reported before, the Home Office guidance includes information on switching visas. It allows people to “apply from the UK to switch to a long-term UK visa until 31 May 2020. This includes applications where you would usually need to apply for a visa from your home country”.
From what we gather, this would be an in-country application rather than an application for entry clearance. The concession was initially limited to people whose visa is due to expire by 31 May 2020. Lawyers are starting to report that the Home Office is sending out emails extend...
May 19, 2020 - Worried that furloughing or redundancy could affect your visa? Here’s what you need to know – questions and answers
As a Tier 2 visa holder, can my employer cut my pay and place me on the government’s furlough scheme?
The short answer is yes. An employer can cut a Tier 2 worker’s salary once they are in the UK without it affecting their visa status.
Usually there is a problem if the cut takes the person’s salary below one of the salary limits for the visa route, such as the experienced worker threshold currently set at £30,000. In normal circumstances an employer has to stop sponsorship at this stage unless the cut is for reasons such as maternity, paternity or sick leave.
The government’s Coronavirus Job ...
May 19, 2020 - Home Office to issue woman with British passport after 18 year battle
Even by Home Office standards, the decision to defend the case of R (Nmai) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 1139 (Admin) looks particularly pointless. The claimant had an incredibly strong case and the judge allowed the claim with little hesitation. By allowing it to get to a final hearing the Home Office wasted the time and resources of everyone involved.
The case was about the department’s longstanding refusal to issue the claimant with a British passport. Since 2002, officials had denied the identity of the claimant and refused to accept that she has British national...
May 19, 2020 - The UK government introduces Insolvency Bill to Help Covid-Hit Companies
20 May The UK government introduced the Corporate Governance and Insolvency Bill in Parliament, which will put in place a series of measures to amend insolvency and company law to support business to address the challenges resulting from the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19).
New insolvency legislation temporarily bans landlords from making legal claims for rent owed by businesses hit by COVID-19. The move, described by Colin Haig, president of restructuring trade body R3, as the biggest shake-up of insolvency laws for two decades, is designed to head off a rash of coronavirus-induced bankruptc...
May 18, 2020 - UK sets out new post-Brexit tariff regime
Today, 19 May, The Government has announced the UK’s new MFN (most-favoured-nation) tariff regime, the UK Global Tariff (UKGT). This will replace the EU’s Common External Tariff on 1 January 2021 at the end of the Transition Period.
The new tariff is a simpler, easier to use and lower tariff regime than the EU’s Common External Tariff (EU CET) and will be in pounds (£), not euros.
The international trade secretary, Elizabeth Truss, said: “For the first time in 50 years we are able to set our own tariff regime that is tailored to the UK economy.
“Our new global tariff will benefit UK consumers ...
May 17, 2020 - It just got more difficult for Europeans to become British citizens
The Home Office has decided to make it more difficult for European residents to become British citizens. EU citizens with settled status who apply for naturalisation now have to provide evidence that they have been living in the UK legally, according an update to government nationality policy released on 15 May 2020.
One of the requirements for naturalisation as a British citizen is to have lived in the UK for five years (or three years if married to a British national). Time living here in breach of UK immigration law does not count. The Home Office has long taken the view that EU citizens ph...
May 17, 2020 - Historic Immigration Bill returns to Parliament (after it was initially abandoned and put on the shelf)
The bill takes back control of UK borders and paves the way for a new points-based immigration system.
The Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill 2020 introduced on 5 March will have its Second Reading in the House of Commons today, 18 Мау, just 6 months since the British people voted to introduce a points-based immigration system.
This represents an important milestone in paving the way for the new immigration system that will deliver for the UK for years to come and puts an end to the European Union’s rules on free movement.
The bill signals the government’s commi...
May 14, 2020 - Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 15 May 2020)
Travel to the UK
Compulsory quarantine
The government’s “COVID-19 recovery strategy”, last updated on 12 May, says that people travelling to the UK will soon be asked to go into quarantine for two weeks after they arrive. The document states:
… the Government will require all international arrivals not on a short list of exemptions to self-isolate in their accommodation for fourteen days on arrival into the UK. Where international travellers are unable to demonstrate where they would self-isolate, they will be required to do so in accommodation arranged by the Government.
There will be some ex...
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