UK Immigration News

Just hours after the terror atrocities in Brussels, the hard right political party UKIP blamed immigration for the attacks. UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, blasted comments made by a UKIP spokesperson who said that 'open borders are putting lives at risk.' Cameron labelled the remark 'inappropriate' on the day of the attacks.

Cameron, along with other critics, was responding to UKIP's assertion that the terror attacks in Brussels 'highlight the dangers of lax immigration controls' and a 'need for the UK to leave the European Union'.

A new poll shows 'overwhelming support' across Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK for the right to live and work freely in each other's countries. However, the UK is going in the opposite direction by increasing the Tier 2 salary threshold for permanent residence making it harder to stay in the UK.

British Airways (BA) IT staff have accused the airline of abusing Tier 2 visas rules at a recent 45 minute protest against plans to outsource and offshore IT jobs to India. Protesters were joined by the extreme left-wing Labour Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John McDonnell, who is also the MP for Hayes, where BA's headquarters is based at Waterside, Heathrow.

UK Immigration has announced that fees across most UK visa categories will be increased from March 18, 2016. The move is likely to affect thousands of applicants, including Indians, who are the largest group of skilled workers to be granted Tier 2 visas to live and work in Britain both in 2015 and in the past.

The Tier 2 visa salary threshold requirement of £35,000 to gain indefinite leave to remain for Tier 2 visa holders was debated by MPs on 7 March. The policy was branded 'destructive and discriminatory' by the UK's Labour Party. It was debated following the decision by the Petitions Committee – a group set up by the House of Commons to analyse e-petitions submitted to petition.parliament.uk to go ahead with the debate.

The number of Tier 2 Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) available for allocation in March according to the table below is 2329. This is not a precise figure. From past experience it is likely to be more than that. The actual number will probably be similar to the number available in February 2016. UK Visas and Immigration published its February report stating that its figures were correct as of 17 February, 2016.