UK Immigration News

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has told a House of Lords subcommittee that a youth mobility scheme with Europe, similar to those that the UK has with Australia and New Zealand, could form part of a wider solution to the UK’s talent challenge for low-skilled jobs.

 

According to recent research, foreign workers are leaving the UK at the fastest rate since World War II, adding to the strain on the economy, which has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit. The research shows that London alone has lost 700,000 people over the past year.  

The consequences of the exodus will prove challenging for the Treasury and landlords while harming Britain’s economic recovery amid what has been described as ‘the worst slump in three centuries.’

The controversial case of Shamima Begum, who left the UK in 2015 to join ISIS, took another twist recently after the UK Supreme Court ruled that she cannot return to Britain while she battles to restore her British citizenship. Begum left the UK for Syria when she was 15, along with two friends, and is currently being held in a detention camp in northern Syria.

 

Slovenia has joined Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, and Romania in urging the UK government to end discriminatory UK work visa fees targeting some EU countries. Workpermit.com recently reported that at least five EU member states were subject to higher UK work visa costs than other EU nations. 

 

The High Court has ruled that a lack of access to UK immigration lawyers for immigrant detainees is unlawful. The ruling comes after it was revealed that a man was denied access to an immigration lawyer for nine months and had to represent himself. The landmark ruling was handed down by Mr Justice Swift.

 

Migration Watch UK, a think that lobbies for a reduction in UK immigration numbers, claims that the number of UK visa overstayers has doubled over the past five years. According to a report compiled by the think tank, in 2016, 49,420 people arrived in the UK on a visa, with no record of them leaving. Meanwhile, as of March 2020, this figure had risen to 91,863.