The UKBA has announced that from Wednesday 29 February 2012, all in-country applicants, for leave to remain exceeding 6-months, will need to obtain a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP card) including those applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK.

The BRP card holds biographic and biometric information and shows applicant’s immigration status and their entitlement during their stay in the UK. In order to obtain the BRP, applicants will be required to submit their biometric information (fingerprints & photographs) at a specified location.

The BRP has been in use for a number of years now for certain leave to remain e.g. Tier 4 and Tier 2 visas, when it replaced the vignette and ink stamps previously placed in the passport.

Home Secretary Theresa May has said the UK Border Agency is to be split in two following revelations that hundreds of thousands of people were let into the country without appropriate checks.

The UK Border Agency will be split up at the beginning of next month.

She told MPs the UK Border Force would become a separate law-enforcement body with its own distinctive “ethos”.

Mrs May said officials had abandoned rules and gone further than ministers had recommended in relaxing checks.

Wiltshire Chief Constable Brian Moore will lead the new border force.

His predecessor, Brodie Clark, was suspended – and then resigned saying his position was untenable – after claims he relaxed checks beyond what had been authorised by ministers.

Mrs May made a statement to MPs on an investigation into the border security carried out by John Vine, the independent chief inspector of the UKBA.

She said officials had exceeded their remit on several occasions, under the current government and its Labour predecessor.

Among the findings:

• Security checks had been suspended regularly and applied inconsistently since at least 2007

• Checks against the Home Office Warnings Index were not carried out on about 500,000 European Economic Area nationals travelling to the UK on Eurostar services from France

• An operation was carried out at Heathrow Airport in which students from supposedly low-risk countries were allowed to enter the UK even when they did not have the necessary entry clearance

Mrs May said: “The Vine report reveals a Border Force that suspended important checks without permission; that spent millions on new technologies but chose not to use them; that was led by managers who did not communicate with their staff; and that sent reports to ministers that were inaccurate, unbalanced and excluded key information.

“The Vine report makes a series of recommendations about how to improve the operation at the border, and I accept them all.”

Mrs May added: “I do not believe the answer to the very significant problems exposed in the Vine Report is just a series of management changes.

“The Border Force needs a whole new management culture. There is no getting away from the fact that UKBA, of which the Border Force is part, has been a troubled organisation since it was founded in 2008.

“From foreign national prisoners to the asylum backlog to the removal of illegal immigrants, it has reacted to a series of problems instead of positively managing its responsibilities.”

On the splitting up of UKBA, Mrs May said that “the extent of the transformational change required – in the agency’s caseworking functions and in the Border Force – is too great for one organisation”.

The Border Force would “become a separate operational command, with its own ethos of law enforcement, led by its own director general, and accountable directly to ministers”, she added.

Section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 provides that where a person is sentenced to imprisonment of 12 months or more, he must be deported unless he falls within one of the statutory exceptions. One of the exceptions is Article 8 of the ECHR; the right to respect for private and family life.

Recently 3 cases came before an Immigration judge which all concerned a father of a young child who is a British citizen where the father has resisted deportation on human rights grounds.

Mr Sanade was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for indecent assault on a patient. Mr Harrison was sentenced to 7 years for conspiracy to supply a Class A drug (cocaine) and for being in possession of a taser stun gun firearm.  Mr Walker received cautions for theft, possession of cannabis and a sharp pointed object in a public place. He was convicted of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply and was sentence to 5 years imprisonment.

In the case of Zambrano, the expulsion of their Colombian parents (not citizens of the Union) was thought to amount to the children’s constructive expulsion from the Union. However it was decided that this shouldn’t be the case. And so some of the questions to be discused in Sanade and Others were; could they could rely on Zambrano? Would their families be required to leave the UK?

As British citizens, Mrs Sanade and her children the Court held they are entitled to reside in the Union. The court decided that Mr Sanade’s conduct was not so serious that it was regarded as proportionate to the legitimate aim in his case to require him to leave his wife and young children for an indefinite period unless and until the deportation order can be revoked. His appeal was allowed.

In the cases for Mr Harrison and Mr Walker, the court decided that deportation was justified in support in of the legitimate aim on the facts of this appeal. Their appeals were refused. 

In cases of the importation and supply of significant quantities of Class A drugs, in particular, Strasbourghas recognised why states show great severity to such foreign offenders. This has long been the policy of the Secretary of State and recognised as such by the UK Courts. The existence of these convictions owned by Harrison and Walker carried considerable weight.

In these cases it was decided that the removal of the appellants will not require the children or spouse to follow. The Court said that each of the children are not accordingly dependent on their fathers for the exercise of their Union rights of residence and removal of the fathers will not deprive them of the effective exercise of that right of residence in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the Union. The Court also said that removal of the fathers did not mean that the children would lose contact with them.

More and more wealthy foreigners are taking advantage of the “investor visas” that were introduced by the UKBA back in 2008.  The visa enables those with at least £1 million to invest in theUKand remain in the country for three years.

It seems that the visa has been exceptionally popular among Russians, who account for 21% of the hundreds of millionaires taking advantage of the scheme. Behind the Russians are Chinese investors, accounting for 15%. Roughly 30% are made up of high net worth individuals from former Soviet Union states such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.

Experts have claimed that the visas are seen as a fast-track process for wealthy foreign nationals to acquire British citizenship.

Damian Green will be doing a victory dance any time now. More rich foreigners is exactly what he asked for!

UKBA have issued the new provisions under Tier 2 (General) for graduates who would previously have been eligible under Tier 1(Post Study Work).

Tier 2 (General) will be open to recent graduates with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, PhD, or a PGCE or PGDE, from a UK recognised or listed body. As per the normal Tier 2 requirements, applicants must have an offer of a skilled job from a licensed sponsor and be paid at least £20,000 or the minimum appropriate rate set out in the relevant Code of Practice. However, the employer will not have to complete a resident labour market test and the jobs will not be subject to the annual limit on Tier 2 numbers (i.e. the Certificates of Sponsorship will be in the Unrestricted category). The Home Office will monitor the numbers switching. We intend to commission the Migration Advisory Committee to review the appropriate rates in the Codes of Practice to ensure they are up to date.

Migrants using this route will be able to sponsor new dependants, on the same terms as other Tier 2 migrants. They may continue to sponsor any dependants whom they sponsored as a Tier 4 migrant. This is a change from the policy proposals set out in their March 2011 Statement of Intent. Tier 4 Dependants will continue to be able to switch into Tier 2 employment in their own right, but will be subject to the Tier 2 limit.

Tier 4 migrants will be able to switch into Tier 2, as described above, once they have been awarded their qualification. In-country switching from Tier 4 to Tier 2 will not be permitted for those who have not completed their studies, except for PhD students who, as now, must have completed at least 12 months of study.

A migrant who wishes to switch to Tier 2 from Tier 4 may start work as a student with the Tier 2 employer if their Tier 4 leave is still valid and allows them to work. The employers should however not offer a permanent contract until the Tier 2 application is approved.

If a migrant wishes to undertake a period of professional training following a course of study in order to obtain a professional qualification, this can be done by switching into Tier 2. If this is not possible, the relevant sector body may seek to establish a dedicated scheme within Tier 5 (Government Authorised Exchange) to allow further training prior to return overseas. It is not possible to switch from Tier 5 to Tier 2, but we will make provision for switching from Tier 4 to Tier 5 (Government Authorised Exchange) to allow this professional training to take place.

Graduates will probably face fierce competition to secure employment in the UK but that is probably what the government’s aim is when theysay they want to retain the brightest and the best graduates.

Following the recent changes to Immigration rules, the UKBA has announced new measure to allow foreign students with entrepreneurial skills to remain in the UK following the completion of their studies. The new visa will be called Tier 1 Post Study Entrepreneur visa and will be open to applicants in April 2013.

This new visa route is to be a new measure to cut back on migration allowed under the Tier 1 Post-study work visa which allows graduates to work in the UK for two years after the completion of their course. The Tier 1 Post-study work visa will no longer be available from April 2012.

For international students to qualify for the Tier 1 Post-study Entrepreneur visa, students will have to show that they have engaged in innovative entrepreneurial activity during their studies and will have to be sponsored by their UK University.

The visa will enable students to stay in the UK to develop their business ideas following the completion of their studies.

On the 20 January 2012 the Home Office announced Statement of Changes HC1733, coming into effect on 13 February 2012. Amongst other things, the amendment to the Immigration Rules will remove paragraph 395C

Paragraph 395C at the moment reads as follows:-

395C Before a decision to remove under section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or section 47 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 is given, regard will be had to all the relevant factors known to the Secretary of State including:

(i)                 Age;

(ii)               Length of residence in the UK

(iii)              Strength of connections with the UK

(iv)             Personal history, including character, conduct and employment record;

(v)               Domestic circumstances;

(vi)             Previous criminal record and the nature of any offence of which the person has been convicted;

(vii)            Compassionate circumstances;

(viii)          Any representations received on the personsbehalf

This paragraph has long been used as a reliable basis to submit representations to UK Border Agency when requesting them to exercise discretion.

The Home Office have decided that this paragraph is now redundant. We wonder if what they really mean is they don’t like us using it.

The Secretary of State’s view isthat if there are reasons why a person would not be removed the onus should be on them to make the relevant application rather than requiring the Secretary of State to have the responsibility of identifying  and considering all factors known to her and identifying those which may be relevant. Paragraph 395C is therefore being deleted and the UK Border Agency is changing its processes so that refusal and removal decisions can be made as required in the judgement of the Court ofAppeal in Sapkota.

A new paragraph is also being inserted at paragraph 353B in relation to fresh asylum and human rights claims:

353B Where further submissions have been made and the decision maker has established whether or not they amount to a fresh claim under paragraph 353 of the rules, or in cases with no outstanding further submissions whose appeal rights have been exhausted and
which are subject to a review, the decision maker will also have regard to the migrant’s:

(i)                 Character, conduct and associations including any criminal record and the nature of any offence of which the migrant concerned has been convicted;

(ii)               Compliance with any conditions attached to any previous grant of leave to enter or remain and compliance with any conditions of temporary admission or immigration bail where applicable;

(iii)              Length of time spent in the UK spent for reasons beyond the migrant’s control after the human rights or asylum claim has been submitted or refused;

in deciding whether there are exceptional circumstances which mean that removal from the United Kingdom is no longer appropriate.

The reality is that the deletion of paragraph 395C won’t make a huge difference to existing or fresh application as representations may still be made under Article 8 and those who arrived in UK prior to March 2007 may still be eligible to be considered for Legacy.

Weighing up human rights for those who are outside the immigration rules will continue withor without paragraph 395C.

Below is a letter we received today from Rob Whiteman at the UK Border Agency detailing the fee increases from April and the introduction of premium services costing companies £25,000 per annum.

I am writing to tell you that on 9 February 2012 and 16 March 2012, two separate pieces of legislation will be laid in Parliament, to propose fee increases for visas and applications made from within the UK. 

These new fees will take effect from 6 April 2012, subject to parliamentary approval. A copy of the full fees table will be available from the 9 February at:  http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/fees-spring-2012.pdf   

This letter is to provide you with further details on the UK Border Agency’s fees changes.

Our business plan for April 2011 to March 2015 makes clear our commitment to reduce the cost to the taxpayer of the UK Border Agency over the next few years.  It also explains that we will increase the contribution that fees make to our costs to ensure that, while the taxpayer pays less, applicants pay more of the cost of running the UK Border Agency.

From April 2012, we propose:

• To limit the majority of increases to approximately 2 per cent, in line with our strategic approach to spread the overall contribution of fee increases across all routes.
• To maintain the fees paid by dependents, for applications made within the UK, at the current level of 50 per cent of a main applicant’s fee. In future we will look to charge the same fee in the UK for dependents and main applicants, as currently already happens for visa applications made overseas.

To make this approach affordable, we propose some targeted increases.

These are:

• To increase Tier 1 General Extensions by 50 per cent from £1,000 to £1,500 in recognition of the continued benefits to applicants now this route is closed, as it offers a route to settlement and also offers continued unrestricted access to the UK labour market.
• To increase the fee for Tier 2 visas by 20 per cent, from £400 to £480, thereby making a step towards our strategic objective of aligning visa fees with in UK fees.  We believe £480 still represents good value compared to the fees charged by other countries.  A similar visa costs £510 in the USA and £1387 in Australia.  We will also increase the fee for Tier 2 Intra Company Transfers for less than 12 months from £350 to £400.
• To increase the Tier 4 visa fee to £289 and Tier 5 fees to £194, to ensure these routes fully recover the administrative costs of processing the applications. We believe it is right that these routes are priced to recover the full costs of processing these applications as it is no longer viable, in the current financial climate, for foreign students and temporary workers to be subsidised by UK taxpayers and other migrants.
• To increase the fees for a sponsor licence from £1,025 to £1,500 for a large sponsor licence.  This reflects changes to the UK Border Agency’s costs of providing the service. In order to continue to protect small sponsors and charities from the full costs of operating the Points Based System, we are limiting increases from £310 to £500 for small sponsors and charities who want to sponsor migrants – a third of the cost of operating the system.

We are also introducing some new fees, and amended existing fees, as follows:

• The Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur route is being introduced to enable graduates from UK Universities to stay in the UK where they have a bright business idea, but have yet to develop it to a level where they would qualify for leave as a Tier 1 Entrepreneur.  This route will be operated as a pilot, and is a demonstration of how the immigration system can support the growth agenda.
• A new optional premium customer service has been developed for Tier 2 and 5 sponsors offering enhanced levels of customer service.  Premium sponsors will be afforded a number of benefits for their annual fee, including; access to a named licence manager, priority access to appointments at public enquiry offices, and attendance at premium sponsor events.  The fee for this service will be £25,000 a year.  A service will also be offered to small sponsors at £8,000 a year.

In conclusion

We remain committed to providing an efficient visa service to customers around the world. Approximately 90 per cent of applications are processed within our published service standards, which are amongst the very best in the world. Over the next few years, we will be reviewing our visa services overseas in light of the changing economic climate to ensure they operate as efficiently as possible. The fee increases will help this process and ensure that we continue to deliver a world class service. 

From 6pm on Friday 10 February until 6pm on Sunday 12 February 2012, the UKBA ‘Apply Online’ service for applicants in the UK will be unavailable while the UKBA carry out maintenance.

Applicants in the UK will not be able to submit applications, book appointments or pay for their applications online, or use the application form finder tool, during this time.