UK Immigration News

The UK government has sparked fury by insisting on visa controls for non-Irish EU citizens crossing the border into Northern Ireland. The Conservatives recently voted to reinstate a US-style visa waiver system that requires EU citizens, who are not Irish, to apply for pre-travel clearance – also known as Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) - before entering the UK.

 

UK Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid, has said that checks on Ukrainians coming to Britain via a newly launched UK immigration scheme are ‘necessary’ to prevent Russian infiltration. With most of Europe providing  visa-free refuge to Ukrainians forced to flee their homeland, Britain has been blasted for failing to do the same. 

 

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has said he will not be welcoming a Ukrainian refugee into his home as part of a government UK immigration scheme. The Homes for Ukraine scheme was recently launched by Westminster, with thousands of Ukrainians registering their interest that sees people in the UK with a room to spare becoming a sponsor.

In an interview with Sky News, when asked whether his family would be participating in the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Mr Sunak responded: “No, I think everyone will be helping in the best way that they can.

Amid the Ukraine-Russia crisis, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has suspended priority and super-priority UK visa processing services for all applications being made outside Britain. A UKVI announcement stated that ‘priority and super-priority applications for family, study and work visas have bene suspended’.

 

UK Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, has been branded ‘shameful’ after falsely claiming that Ukrainian NHS staff on a UK work visa are eligible for the Home Office’s Ukraine refugee scheme. Javid claimed that Ukrainians with a UK skilled worker visa and employed by the NHS could bring family to Britain.

 

According to new data released by the Home Office, the number of UK skilled worker visas issued to overseas nationals since 2020 has risen by a staggering 110%. The data shows that Indians and Nigerians have benefitted most from being granted skilled worker visas. There were 239,987 work-related UK visas granted in 2021, including visas for dependents.