UK Immigration News

The UK government has outlined plans for a temporary UK visa scheme that will allow foreign truck drivers into Britain. The move comes amid a chronic driver shortage, which has sparked fuel and food shortages in the UK. Across Britain, people are panic buying petrol, with Downing Street said to be furious at what it described as ‘press scaremongering’.

 

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) claims that Priti Patel’s UK immigration plans for Britain’s asylum system will be in violation of international law. The UK Home Secretary is proposing a two-tier system, which the UNHCR says ‘stigmatises those seeking asylum in the UK as unworthy and unwelcome’.

 

Official estimates show that more than 5.5 million people applied to remain in the UK prior to the cut-off date for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). Meanwhile, figures show that more than 4.9 million people have been granted the right to continue living and working in the UK following the completion of the Brexit transition period.

 

By Sanwar Ali:

The COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic is still affecting travel to and from the UK, after about one and half years since restrictions were first introduced.  In the UK the confusing and complicated green, amber and red list countries system, is used to determine travel restrictions for UK residents, and others arriving into the UK.  This system is to end on 4 October 2021 to be replaced by a simpler system.

 

The Home Office has conceded that there’s ‘little evidence’ to suggest that its UK immigration plan to reduce migrant Channel crossings will work. An equality impact assessment states that changes to the UK asylum system carry ‘significant scope for indirect discrimination’ and ‘potential for racial discrimination’, according to a report published by The Independent.

 

The Home Office has issued new guidance for UK employers on obtaining a sponsor licence to hire overseas workers. The number of applications for a sponsor licence submitted to the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) department of the Home Office has surged in 2021, especially since the end of the Brexit ‘grace period’ in June.