UK Immigration News

Starting 2 April 2005, the UK government will not be accepting working holidaymaker applications at its visa sections in Colombo, Kuala Lumpur, Gaborone and Windhoek.

This move has been taken because of a large increase in the number of working holidaymaker applications received in these countries, which lead to backlogs in processing.

The suspension will be reviewed after six months. Please check workpermit.com again for updates.

Work Permits UK has announced its targets for how long it should take to process various types of visas. The new standards are as follows:

Work Permits and Sector Based Scheme (SBS)WP (UK) aims for 70% of applications to be decided within one week of receipt, and 90% within 3 weeks.

The UK Government is launching in April 2005 its new provision for graduates of the top 50 business schools (below) to work in the UK for up to 12 months upon completion of their MBAs. This provision is part of the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), although the government has not yet clarified how the HSMP and the MBA provision are related.

UPDATE: This news item is out of date. The Home Office has increased the fees as of 01 April 2007. Please see the the article we posted detailing the new Home Office fees.

There is a significant increase in Government fees from 12.01am on 1 April 2005 with the fees doubling or more than doubling for many types of application from this date. We include details of the latest Government fees for immigration and nationality applications below:

Work Permits UK announced on 23 March 2005 that from 4 April 2005 you will only be allowed a maximum of two reviews of refused work permit and HSMP applications.

WorkPermits UK will undertake a full review of the grounds for the originalrefusal and a full review of all other aspects of the work permitdecision. They may also contact you for further details before givingtheir decision on the review.

UK Home Secretary Charles Clarke has said the Government's recently announced five-year plan will give the Country an immigration system "fit for the 21st century," the website politics.co.uk reports.

In a statement on March 21, Mr. Clarke said the immigration system must be seen to be properly run and enforced, with clear rules governing who is allowed to enter the Country and settle. However, he acknowledged that migration is important and said that genuine refugees would continue to find a safe haven in the UK.