UK Immigration News

Almost all the results have come in for the UK General Election. As expected there have been significant gains for the Conservatives. The Conservatives are expected to increase their MPs in parliament by about a hundred. The Labour Party will lose about ninety seats and the Liberal Democrat will lose about five seats. This means that for the first time in over thirty years there will be a Hung Parliament. No single political party will have enough of a majority to form a Government by themselves.

With the UK General Election on 6 May 2010 little more than a week away there is continuing talk of a possible "Hung Parliament" in the UK. This is a parliament where no single political party has enough seats to form a Government. Leaders of the two largest political parties in the UK David Cameron for the Conservatives and Gordon Brown for the Labour Party have both said that voting for the Liberal Democrats is more likely to lead to a Hung Parliament which they say will result in political uncertainty.

UK airports opened again at 22:00 on Tuesday 20 April 2010. Due to the Volcanic Eruption in Iceland and the resulting volcanic ash clouds for almost a whole week there was little or no air travel in Europe.

In the last week opinion polls have shown an increase in support for the Liberal Democrats who probably have more liberal policies on immigration than the Conservative or Labour Party. For example the Liberal Democrats would like an amnesty for people who have been in the UK illegally for ten years. An estimate by the London School of Economics for the number of illegal immigrants in the UK is 618,000.

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has said the following about travellers whose visas have expired and who have been unable to travel due to volcanic ash ending up in the atmosphere after the eruption beneath the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier in south-western Iceland; "…We appreciate that this is due to exceptional circumstances beyond your control…" UKBA has also said that if your UK visa has already expired you should keep documentation confirming your travel plans showing that if the eruption had not occurred you would have left the

New changes from 7 April 2010 reduce the number of courses provided by many education providers. The changes to the immigration rules means that only education providers holding a new Highly Trusted sponsor licence.can offer the following types of courses known as 'restricted courses' to Tier 4 (General) students: