News
British households are expected to rack up debts worth a combined £6bn because of the coronavirus crisis, as millions of people fall behind on credit card payments, council tax and utility bills.
Sounding the alarm as the economic fallout from the health emergency mounts, the StepChange debt advice charity said 4.6m households risked building up dangerous levels of debt because of the pandemic.
The charity warned that debts racked up during the crisis would stifle the country’s economic recovery and that debt advisory services would be deluged once the reality of people’s situations began to h...
08.06.2020 - Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 09 June 2020)
If you are applying to enter the UK or remain on the basis of family or private life
There are temporary concessions in place if you’re unable to meet the requirements of the family Immigration Rules to enter or remain in the UK due to coronavirus.
If you are unable to travel back to the UK due to coronavirus travel restrictions and your leave has expired, a short break in continuous residence will be overlooked. You are expected to make your next application as soon as possible.
Fiancés, fiancées or proposed civil partners
If you’re here with 6 months’ leave as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed c...
07.06.2020 - Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 08 June 2020)
Immigration status of NHS workers
The Home Office guidance page was updated on 8 June 2020 to add some details about family members. It clarifies that family members of NHS workers who already have indefinite leave to remain cannot avail of this scheme. There is also a section saying that people who have already applied for an extension can withdraw it and get a refund, relying on the free one-year extension instead, although not if they’ve got as far as submitting their fingerprints and photo.
03.06.2020 - No European Convention on Human Rights jurisdiction over humanitarian visa refusal
The European Court of Human Rights has declined an invitation to extend the jurisdiction of the Convention to cover applications made for a visa to enter a given country and claim asylum.
In M.N. and Others v. Belgium (application no. 3599/18), the Strasbourg court ruled that an application brought by a Syrian family living in Lebanon, who had been refused humanitarian visas by the Belgian government, was inadmissible. Therefore the court could not consider their claim that the refusal violated Article 3 ECHR.
This is an important case; the United Kingdom was not even a party but still sent a ...
03.06.2020 - Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 04 June 2020)
Compulsory quarantine
International travellers arriving in the UK on or after 8 June 2020 are being told to go into quarantine for two weeks:
To limit the spread of infection, arrivals must self-isolate for 14 days.
There is a separate list of exceptions, including for arrivals from within the Common Travel Area covering the UK, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. This is so long as the person hasn’t arrived in the Common Travel area within the past two weeks and then travelled on to the UK. If, say, someone travels from the Netherlands to Ireland on 10 June and then on to the UK...
The government published new statistics that show 745,388 businesses across the UK have to date benefitted from over £31 billion in loans and guarantees to support their cashflow during the crisis through schemes delivered by the British Business Bank as at 31 May.
This includes 699,354 Bounce Back Loans worth £21.29 billion, 45,843 loans worth over £8.9 billion through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and £1.1 billion through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
But many firms that are too big for bounce-back loans report that they are struggling to get th...
01.06.2020 - Rishi Sunak considers national insurance holidays for firms as part of coronavirus recovery package.
The UK Chancellor's focus is on measures to stem the expected spike in unemployment and boost economic growth.
Rishi Sunak is considering national insurance holidays for companies as part of a coronavirus stimulus package that will be announced in July, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported late on 01 June.
Tax rate increases, including raising income tax and VAT, that have been under consideration are likely to be delayed until economic growth recovers, citing sources close to the discussions.
The report adds that Sunak's focus is on stemming unemployment with options being considered includ...
28.05.2020 - Home Office softens no recourse to public funds policy following High Court defeat
Revised Home Office guidance should make it easier for migrants with family visas to claim benefits if necessary. The change follows a recent High Court decision along with the wider context of no recourse to public funds (NRPF).
As of today, the updated policy includes the following new paragraph:
The position in Appendix FM
Paragraph GEN.1.11A provides the basis in the Immigration Rules for exceptions to the wider policy on migrants not having recourse to public funds. In all cases where an applicant has been granted leave, or is seeking leave, under the family or private life routes the NRP...
28.05.2020 - Rishi Sunak announced furlough scheme updates
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled plans for employers to start paying towards the wages of their furloughed staff.
Changes to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) let businesses bring back staff part time from July, but introduce a taper requiring firms to contribute to salaries from August.
From August, employers must pay National Insurance and pension contributions, then 10% of pay from September, rising to 20% in October.
Also, workers will be allowed to return to work part-time from July, but with companies paying 100% of wages.
Mr Sunak said the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme w...
27.05.2020 - Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 28 May 2020)
Visa centres overseas
All UK visa application centres overseas are closed but some are about to re-open.
VFS Global, which runs some of the centres on behalf of the British government, tweeted on 31 March: “Please be advised that our UK visa services have been suspended globally until further notice”. That tweet was deleted in late May, when the company announced a “phased resumption of services in certain Visa Application Centres” from 1 June. They are:
- Brisbane
- Canberra
- Melbourne
- Perth
- Sydney
- Beijing
- Chongqing
- Guangzhou
- Shanghai
- Suva
- Hong Kong ...
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