Home Office Warning to Sponsors for Inactive SMS
We’re aware that the Home Office’s Sponsor, Assurance and Investigations Team have contacted some sponsor licence holders by email to warn of inactivity on their Sponsorship Management System. Sponsor licence holders are required to keep their SMS records up to date, or risk enforcement action. This includes ensuring your key personnel details are up to […]
ICT to Global Business Mobility Visa Transition Arrangements for Sponsors
The Home Office has shared details of the transition arrangements for sponsors that are currently employing, or are in the process of hiring, ICT visa holders. From 11 April 2022, the Global Business Mobility (GBM) Visa will be open to new applications. Within the GBM visa, two new sub-categories will replace the ICT routes: GBM: […]
Tier 1 Investor Visa Route Closed
The UK Government has permanently closed the Tier 1 (Investor) Visa route for foreign nationals. The closure took effect from 4pm 17 February 2022, and applies to all new investor visa applications from applicants of all nationalities. Statement of Changes In its statement, the Home Office advised that the visa route had been “under […]
MAC Publishes Review of ICT Route
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published its report on the UK’s Intra Company Transfer route. The MAC is an independent body that was commissioned by the UK Government in September 2020 to undertake a review of the ICT. The scope of the review was to assess: Whether the route complies with the UK’s commitments […]
Changes to Immigration Rules HC 617 October 2021
The government published a statement of changes to the UK Immigration Rules on 10 September 2021. At 183 pages, it is extensive and covers a broad range of areas. In this guide, we summarise the key points affecting employers, workers and business travellers to the UK. ID cards banned for entry purposes From 1 […]
UK Sponsorship Reforms: 2021, 2022 & Beyond
With the introduction of the new points-based immigration system, the UK government has pledged to make a number of improvements to the work visa sponsorship process for sponsors and workers. Given the new immigration rules require UK employers to have a sponsorship licence to hire most non-UK residents, the imperative for reform of the system […]
Home Office Challenging CoS Applications
Sponsor licence holders are being warned of increased Home Office scrutiny when processing CoS requests. Prior to the change in the CoS regime at the end of 2020, requests for CoS allocations were generally considered to be ‘rubber stamping’ exercises. However, we are noticing an increase in the number of requests for further information being […]
Changes to Immigration Rules 2021 (HC 1248)
The Home Office published a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules, HC 1248, on 4th March 2021. The majority of the amendments affect UK work and study visas under the points-based system, with most due to take effect on 6th April 2021, unless otherwise stated. Graduate route From 1 July 2021, student visa […]
Latest UK COVID Restrictions & Business Travel
New immigration COVID restrictions are now in effect in England as the Government moves to suppress transmission of the coronavirus. Travel corridors closed All quarantine-free travel corridors for people arriving into the UK have been closed indefinitely, and all arrivals from anywhere outside the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man must now present […]
Tier 2 Cooling Off Period: New Rules 2021
With the Skilled Worker visa now open, replacing the Tier 2 (General) visa, a number of changes have taken effect impacting points-based skilled workers and their sponsors. One significant area of change is in relation to the Tier 2 cooling off period. Tier 2 cooling off period abolished for skilled workers Under the UK’s […]