UK Immigration News

Police and immigration enforcement officers arrested 13 Indian nationals during a dawn raid at a factory in Leicester on June 4th.

11 of the migrants remain in custody, while the other 2 have been released on the condition that they report regularly to Home Office officials. An additional arrest on suspicion of possessing false documents was made against one of the men. Officials also stated that they seized cash - presumably wages - under the Proceeds of Crime Act, as well as employment documents during the 6am raid.

The Tier 1 Investor Visa is worth considering if you are one of the very small number of people who have £2 million to invest in the UK. This is double the previous investment requirement of £1 million. On 5 November 2014, the Home Office increased the minimum investment requirement from £1 million to £2 million and on 6 April 2015, the Home Office introduced further changes to the Tier 1 Investor requirements.

On June 1st British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his intention to lead a new 'immigration taskforce' in an apparent attempt to bring immigration down to 'the tens of thousands'.

Ten new 'implementation units' have been created to deliver policy changes in areas from housing to 'extremism'. All are headed by senior cabinet figures, with the prime minister leading the unit for immigration.

Criticism has been aimed at the Home Office after they advised two Indian Entrepreneurs, hoping to stay in Scotland, to contact candidates for the UK parliamentary elections rather than their local Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP).

The Scottish National Party (SNP) labelled the advice 'negligent' and 'ridiculous' because unelected parliamentary candidates have no special status when it comes to intervening in UK immigration matters.

The state opening of parliament in the UK last Wednesday saw the Queen deliver a speech prepared by prime minister David Cameron's team, in which she outlined the new Conservative government's agenda for their next five years in office. Among the announcements made in the Queen's Speech was a new immigration bill, which promises tougher measures to 'control immigration' and 'support working people'.

The bill includes several new proposals.

Kumar Sangakkara, a top Sri Lankan cricketer, took to Twitter recently with a series of tweets criticising a UK immigration official following a 'horrendous experience' at Heathrow Airport.

Such is his importance to Cricket in April 2015 the Sri Lankan Sports Minister had urged Sangakkara to continue to play in test matches. Despite pleas to stay on by the Minister and many others he no longer plays in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and will soon be retiring from Test cricket.