UK Immigration News

Sir Christopher Meyer, the UK's ambassador to Washington between 1997 and 2003, has told UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph that the UK Border Agency is driving international students away from the UK to the 'excellent' universities in Canada, Australia and the US.

Interviewed by journalist Sue Cameron (no relation to Prime Minister David Cameron), Sir Christopher said 'David Cameron is always telling us that we are in a global race for business, but it is as if other countries are forging ahead while Britain is in a sack race'.

The chairmen and chairwoman of five influential UK parliamentary committees have signed an open letter to the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron asking him to remove international students from the UK immigration figures. They claim that this will help stimulate the UK's economy, particularly in university towns and will improve the country's balance of payments.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has called on the UK government to act to limit the number of immigrants coming to the UK from Bulgaria and Romania next year when the 'transitional controls' on the free movement of citizens of those countries will be removed.

The UK immigration minister, Mark Harper, has announced that there is to be a new system of checks made on those applying for Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visas.

Mr Harper delivered a written statement to the House of Commons on 30th January 2013 in which he announces that there are to be 'changes in the immigration rules that will bring about urgent changes to tackle abuse in the Entrepreneur migration route while protecting genuine entrepreneurs'. The statement says that the new rules will be introduced on Thursday 31st January 2013.

The UK's immigration minister has announced changes to the UK's citizenship test. Mark Harper said that the changes were necessary because the old test tested people's knowledge of 'how to claim benefits' whereas the new test would 'encourage participation in British life'.

Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the chief executive of Tata Consulting Services says that the UK government should improve 'labour mobility' to increase levels of inward investment. He said 'Britain must simplify the visa system for workers wanting to come in and out'. He told UK newspaper The Sunday Telegraph that this would help the UK to continue to recover from the global financial crisis of 2008.