News

Jul 08, 2018 - The Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson, resigned from his post on the 9th of July 2018

Few hours after the resignation of the Brexit Secretary David Davis, Boris Johnson resigned from his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs, amid growing political crisis caused by Brexit. He announced his decision shortly before Teresa May's speech in Parliament, where she was to announce a strategy for a new plan for the country's withdrawal from the EU. The new "soft Brexit" faced a negative feedback from Tory MPs.

Mr. Johnson has held the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs since June 2016, and was also the “face” of Leave Campaign during the 2016 referendum.

 

Jul 05, 2018 - New changes to the UK Immigration Rules took effect from 6th July 2018.

Changes to Tier 2 Visas

In June 2018, Home office excluded overseas doctors and nurses coming to work in the UK from the visa cap under Tier 2 category.

The Home office also made it clear that when obtaining Tier 2 visa, the applicant can not directly or indirectly hold  more than 10%  of the shares of the sponsor company.

While applying for settlement, migrants residing in the UK on Tier 2 visa, who took parental leave, are now required to provide documentary evidence of birth or adoption when submitting the application.

Changes to Tier 1 visas

Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)

Talented designers ...

Jul 02, 2018 - New changes to EEA Regulations

On the 3rd July 2018 Parliament introduced new changes to EEA Regulations, which will come into force on the 24th July 2018.

Dual citizenship

In November 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that EU citizens who move to the UK and then become British citizens will retain their rights to free movement under the EU law, as long as they exercised treaty rights before naturalising as British citizens. The Regulation were amended to incorporate this judgement and it will remain to be the case after Brexit.

Retaining self-employed status

The circumstances under which an EU c...

Jun 14, 2018 - Important information for Non-EU citizens exercising their retained right of residency in the UK

In the case EWCA Civ 1088, the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) clarified the interpretation of article 13 (2) of the Citizens Rights Directive 2004. The court found that the non-EEA citizens can exercise their retained residency in the UK following the divorce from the qualified EEA national . The Article 13 lays down a set of criteria that are taken into account when considering such cases, for example, the duration of marriage, custody of children and protection of victims of domestic violence. Previously the applicants were required to provide evidence from  their ex partners during the pr...

Jun 14, 2018 - Immigration cap for doctors and nurses visas is lifted

On Friday, 15th of June 2018, Home Office confirmed that doctors and nurses will be excluded from the visa cap under Tier 2 category. These would allow more foreign medical professionals to come to the UK to work with NHS. This change will come into effect on the 6 July 2018. 

The limit on the number of issued visas in this category was introduced in 2011: 20,700 visas per year or about 1,600 visas per month. Over the past five months, the number of applications has significantly increased. 18,517 applications were submitted from November 2017 till April 2018, with 8,330 (45%) being granted. R...

Jun 13, 2018 - New visa route for founders of startups

The Home Office has confirmed its plans to introduce a new type of visa for founders of startups in the field of high technology and IT.  New visas will replace a visa route which was exclusively for graduates, allowing talented businessmen to start a business in the UK. Also the Home Office noted that the process of visa processing should become smoother and faster.

During London Tech Week Home Office secretary Sajid Javid in his speech said: “The UK can be proud that we are a leading nation when it comes to tech and innovation, but we want to do more to attract businesses to the UK and our m...

Jun 12, 2018 - The Lower House of the Parliament approved the plan for the country's withdrawal from the European Union

On Tuesday, June 12, the Lower House of the Parliament voted on the Brexit plan with 324 votes supporting it and 298 against.

British Prime Minister Theresa May won support from the Parliament, but she had to make concessions with Brexit opponents amongst Conservative Party. As a result, the Parliament will gain more control over the process of the Brexit. While some British politicians would like to maintain close ties with Brussels, others insist on keeping the distance between the UK and the European Union. For Mrs May the results of the current vote are very important especially in the lig...

Jun 12, 2018 - Despite the shortage of NHS staff, only one third of the Tier 2 visa requests for overseas medical personnel is being approved by the Home Office

Over the past five months, more than 2,300 doctors wishing to work in the UK have been denied Tier 2 visas. In total 3,597 applications for Tier 2 visas were submitted between 6 November 2017 to 5 April 2018. Only 34% of them were approved.

These figures became available to public after Home Office Secretary Sajid Javid expressed his determination to revise the system of issuing Tier 2 visas, including reviewing the visa cap. Tier 2 visa system was introduced by Theresa May in November 2008 to set the limit of non-EU skilled workers with job offers from UK based companies. In order to recruit ...

Jun 11, 2018 - Discrimination faced under British Nationality Act 1981

The latest report of The Joint Committee on Human Rights, published information that the British Nationality Act 1981 still contains sections that can amount to discrimination on the grounds of a parent’s gender or person’s marital status. This specially persist in the requirements of obtaining British citizenship in the British overseas territories. The report notes that the government aims to reduce discrimination in the British Nationality Act 1981, but in fact, no significant measures have been taken recently to address this issue.

Historically, the process of passing British citizenship t...

Jun 07, 2018 - Deportation of alleged spies straight from the UK border

The British government have introduced new bill to the Parliament that would allow the expulsion of people arriving in the country at the border control if officers suspect that they are preparing for "hostile actions" in the UK. In fact, the new law would allow deportation of alleged spies straight from the UK border. The new bill was introduced by the Home Office Secretary Sajid Javid in order to fight against terrorism and "hostile actions". It is said that one of the reasons of introducing this law is poisoning of Julia and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

The bill suggests that UK Border Cont...

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