UK's Statement Of Changes In The Immigration Rules

24 Mar 2014

UK’s home secretary has laid a statement of changes pertaining to the immigration rules before the House of Commons on 13^th March, 2014.These changes are intended to provide a better flexibility for the applicants, who are filing their applications under the category of work route of Points Based System. The important points are described below.

Tier 1(Entrepreneur) visa

• Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa is meant for the applicants who are willing to run an existing business or intending to set up a new business in UK.
• The applicants are qualified for this visa category based on the funds invested in the business. The funds will need to be invested up to 12 months before filing the application. This is being extended to 24 months for those applicants who are shifting to UK Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) visa category from UK Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa.

Tier 1(Graduate Entrepreneur) visa

The Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) category of visa is provided for the graduates, who are approved by UK Trade and Investment or by the Higher Education Institutions of UK for the sake of establishing one or more businesses in United Kingdom.

• The requirement to acquire their degrees under the last 12 months is being removed. This is highly favorable to the graduates of the foreign countries and also to the ones who have been undertaking research in United Kingdom since graduation.
• The applicants are allowed to have maximum of 2 grants of leave according to the current rules .Changes  have  been made, according to which second grant would be with a distinct sponsoring body when compared to the first grant of leave.

UK Tier 1 (Investor) Visa

• Tier 1 (Investor) visa category is applicable for the individuals of high net worth, who are making a considerable investment financially in UK. 
• It is required that the Investors have to make an investment within 3 months of entering the United Kingdom under this visa category. As per the current rules, in case of any failure of making an investment within the 3 months, the applicants will not be granted an extension. But, as per the change in the rule, the applicants may now be granted an extension in case of any exceptionally compelling reasons that are the cause of delay in the investment, on condition that the specified reasons are not known in advance and are not in the control of the investor.

The investors who do not invest within 3 months may have their leave cut short and have to wait for a considerable duration before they can gain the eligibility to file their application for settlement.

Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa

• Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa category is for the willing people, who exhibit an exceptional talent in the field of humanities, science, arts and engineering, and who are sponsored by a designated Competent Body.

This visa category will be extended in order to incorporate the individuals, who are excellent in the sector of digital technology by allowing Tech City UK to sponsor the visa applications of Tier 1. This would entitle the professionals and the innovators of digital technology industry to visit UK without having any necessity for a sponsoring employer.

• New rules are being initiated to authorize the applicants, who are applying under Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa category to file their applications from any foreign country against the normal rule, which specifies that the applicant has to file the application from his/her country of residence.

Greater ease is being provided to the applicants that would allow them to shift from all other Tier 1 visa categories to Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visa category while in UK. The applicants, who are under Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) category of visa, are allowed to file their applications for an extension while overseas.

Tier 2 visa

• Tier 2 (General) visa is for the immigrants those who have an offer of employment from an employer, who hold a Sponsor License in the UK.
• A basic change is being made to authorize the applicants under Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) according to which there would a grant to have a leave up to 5years at a time as against to the present rule that grants a leave up to 3 years
• The minimum maintenance funds in Tier 2 will rise to £900 besides an increase in the cost of living in UK. Effective from 1^st July 2014, this particular change is planned to take an effect.

Tier 5 (Temporary Workers) visa

Under the Tier 5 (Temporary Worker - Government Authorized Exchange) visas a new visa category is created for the foreign language government positions. This category of visa would allow the foreign language teachers, who are sponsored by their foreign governments in order to take up the positions of teaching at the institutions in UK and this has to take place through a recognized government to government collaboration agreements. The first of these schemes would support a Mandarin teaching scheme that is meant to promote good relation between China and UK.

For more updates Follow us @ Facebook , Twitter , Google+