UK Immigration News

A breakdown of communication between immigration officials led to the "lighter touch" UK immigration officers used at passport and visa checks last year, a Parliamentary inquiry consisting of MPs (UK members of parliament) has said. The report published this week by the Commons home affairs committee said that a "highly troubling" lack of supervision led to passport and visa controls being relaxed far too frequently. The relaxed immigration controls led to the dismissal of the UK border force chief, Brodie Clark.

UK immigration has announced that a number of UK visa application centres around the world will be unable to take biometric information on certain days in February due to IT upgrades.During the major IT maintenance work on the specific dates, visa applicants will not be able to submit UK visa applications. The centres will remain open for the collection of documents at the usual times.

The UK immigration has issued new information regarding inspections and reviews for Tier 4 student visa sponsors. There are also major changes coming to the Tier 4 and Tier 1 visas.

The "Down Under Live" and "Canada Live" expos will be held next month in the UK providing detailed information of immigration and employment opportunities for Australia, New Zealand and Canada and will take place in three different cities across the UK. If you are interested in immigration to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada you should seriously consider visiting an Immigration Expo.

The UK Government has announced that its Air Passenger Duty (APD) will increase this April. New Zealand is worried that the tax hike on long haul flights from the UK could harm tourism.The tax, which increases from £85 to £92 for flights to New Zealand, is based on the distance travelled.

The High Court in the UK has dismissed a legal challenge to a new immigration rule requiring people to be able to speak English before coming to the UK to live with their spouse.The law was implemented back in November 2010 and had recently been challenged by three couples who deemed the rules to be unfair and racist. However the UK High Court dismissed the challenges.Justice Beatson, presiding judge over the appeals, stated, "The new language test was not a disproportionate interference with the couples' right to family life."