UK Immigration News

An interpreter from Afghanistan has been denied asylum by UK immigration despite saving the lives of British soldiers'. His work for British Forces attracted the attention of the Taliban which resulted in death threats.

Aslam Yousaf Zai began working with the British Army in 2009, serving as an interpreter, before his position became untenable for him. Serving on the frontline, Zai began to stand out and become a particular target for the Taliban.

Senior Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs announced that they would bring back the previous Tier 1 Post- Study Work Visa (PSW) for overseas students if they're elected in the 7 May General Election.

The announcements were made during a Higher Education debate earlier this month [March], jointly hosted by Times Higher Education, Universities UK, the Higher Education Policy Institute and the Open University.

Buckinghamshire New University's Tier 4 sponsorship licence has been suspended, preventing them from accepting new admissions of overseas students from outside the EU; Students sponsored by the University exceeded the visa refusal rate permitted by UK Immigration. In addition the Tier 2 sponsorship licence to enable the University to employ professional level workers from outside the EU was also suspended.

The UK is making it harder for Syrians who wish to remain in the UK say lawyers. UK immigration authorities are quietly sending Syrian refugees to their first European country of entry, usually Italy.

Lawyers say that in the last four years, UK visa approvals for Syrians have dropped from 70% to 40%. Official UK statistics show that over 30 people were ejected from Britain in a 12-month period to mid-2014.

The Labour Party has vowed to bring in time limits and ban the indefinite detention of asylum seekers and immigrants in detention centres, if they come into power after the 7 May 2015 General Election. The move will bring the UK into line with other Western nations.

Research regarding immigration has been conducted by the British Election Study (BES); an academic group that has analysed Britain's electoral behaviour since 1964. In the survey, the BES found that the more "financially literate" a person is, the more positive their views on immigration are likely to be.

The survey was taken by up to 30,000 people. BES discovered that the more people correctly understood inflation, interest rates and risk diversification the more likely they were to have a positive stance on immigration and its cultural and economic benefits.