UK Immigration News

The UK government has reportedly been holding secret talks over a short-term UK visa for overseas lorry drivers in a bid to tackle overwhelming staff shortages across the haulage industry. It’s understood that officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) are consulting with haulage industry bosses as driver shortages hit more than 100,000.

 

A new report released by UK-based anti-corruption charity, Spotlight on Corruption, has listed the top-ranking countries whose citizens have been granted the so-called UK golden visa. Between 2008 and 2020, thousands of millionaires have been approved for a UK Tier 1 investor visa.

 

The Home Office will allow migrants to work on offshore wind farms without UK visas in an ‘11th hour’ U-turn. However, the last-minute decision to extend the visa waiver has been blasted by MPs and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Workers’ Union. Karl Turner, the MP for Hull East, described the U-turn as a ‘further blow for UK seafarers’.

 

An NHS trust has apologised for charging ‘overseas’ patients for healthcare in accordance with UK immigration rules. Lewisham and Greenwich NHS trust (LGT) said it was ‘sorry for any instances where people weren’t treated with compassion or in a way that was consistent with the values of the trust.

 

UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, will push ahead with plans to block access to UK visas for countries who refuse to take back asylum seekers. The plans, first mooted in March 2021, are set to be launched under the new Nationality and Borders Bill, which will also give UK Border Force staff the power to turn away small boats filled with migrants crossing the Channel.

 

Trade Union, Unite, which protects worker rights, equality and diversity in the workplace is urging the UK government not to issue European lorry drivers with temporary UK visas to plug chronic HGV driver shortages. Instead, the union has urged the logistics industry to increase driver pay rates to solve the crisis, according to a MotorTransport report.