UK Immigration News

On 6 April 2010 it was announced that the next UK General Election will take place on 6 May 2010. According to recent opinion polls it seems likely that after the General Election there will be a new Conservative Government so ending 13 years of a Labour Government.

UK Immigration has said that they will be reviewing the salary multipliers used to convert past earnings from overseas to the equivalent UK earnings to calculate points for UK Tier 1 visas. The review had not been completed by 6 April 2010 which was the date that the latest changes came into effect and when the next UK General Election was announced.

You should note that many UK visa application fees will change from this Tuesday 6 April 2010. Therefore, it is important for you to make sure that you are paying the correct fee when making an UK visa application. As mentioned in a previous news report some visa fees for dependent applications will double or triple in price.

The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said recently that the UK immigration system is now based on a "controlled and fair" points-based system. Home Secretary Alan Johnson was also present during the speech delivered in Shoreditch, East London.

From Tuesday 6 April 2010 you can use the new UKBA super premium service for certain types of visa applications. For a fee of GBP15,000 an UKBA officer will visit you at a location of your choice to process your visa application in the UK. You will then provide your biometric information which consists of your fingerprints and photograph. This is probably the highest fee ever charged by UK immigration for one of their services.

UK Immigration has announced that following a visa waiver test for seven Countries in the Eastern Caribbean there may in future be a visit visa requirement for nationals of Dominica and St Lucia.