UK Immigration News

There have been a number of significant changes to the UK Immigration Rules since 1 April 2003. The most important changes are as follows:

Owing to an increasing number of work permit applications received by Work Permits UK for their consideration, from 1st April 2003 they will be introducing a fee of £95 for the processing of applications. This fee will apply to initial work permit applications, work permit extensions, change of employment and appeals.

We may be able to help!

The re-vamped Highly Skilled Migrant Programme may be the way forward. You don’t need a firm job offer or even a company sponsor. Plus, you can add time spent under the HSMP together with time you’ve spent as a UK work permit holder, with a view to applying for Indefinite Leave to remain after 4 years!

To see if you qualify, fill out your information on our free of charge HSMP points calculator. If you score 75 points or more, you are eligible to apply!

There have been major changes to the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme from 28 January 2003. One of the criticisms of the old HSMP programme was that very few people could meet the criteria for this. The new programme addresses these concerns with the following changes:

The British Government has announced that from early next year two new managed migration schemes will be introduced to allow employers in the food manufacturing industry and the hospitality industry to recruit short-term low skilled workers to help ease recruitment difficulties.

The details of the schemes are still being finalised. We expect final details to be announced in March or April 2003.

The Home Office has announced the result of their review of the policy regarding Employment Agencies sponsoring work permits. The Home Office has decided to retain the prohibition.

This was due to the following reasons: