Topical:
Processing times for work permits have not changed over the last month. A work permit application in the UK takes up to five days. Applicants under the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP) can expect to wait the longest, maybe even as long as 26 weeks.
If you are in the UK already on a work permit or under HSMP, you will probably also have to submit a Leave to Remain application which could take up to 13 more weeks to process.
Processing times for work permits have not changed over the last month. A work permit application in the UK takes up to 5 days. If you are in the UK already and need to also apply for leave to remain on the basis of a work permit this takes 10 weeks.
Applicants under the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP) can expect to wait the longest, maybe even as long as 24 weeks. On top of this if you are already in the UK the Leave to Remain application could take up to 10 weeks to process.
The first minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, is determined to bring Scotland back on the map as a country where foreign skilled professionals would want to live and work. Without immigrants, the Scottish population is expected to decline drastically over the coming years.
McConnell's Fresh Talent initiative aims at promoting Scotland enough to attract 8,000 foreign professionals each year from now to 2009. There are also plans to grant visa extensions to foreign students who wish to stay after graduation. The first minister is presently discussing with the UK Home Office on a number of immigration initiatives.
Since EU expansion, 91,000 people from the new member states haveregistered to work in Britain. The amount of people registered hassurpassed the Home Office expectations by far.
Shadow HomeSecretary David Davies has described the British immigrations system asa "shambles" following the release of this official figure, promptingspeculations of radical changes to the UK immigration system.
Theofficial estimate of the Home Office suggests that some 5,000 to 13,000people per year from the new EU member states would register to work inthe UK.
Following the announcement of the death of the President of the United Arab Emirates, His Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the British Embassies in Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be closed to the public from Nov. 3, but will reopen on Nov. 13.
During this time, al visa services will be suspended unless there is and exceptional urgency. For these urgent requests the UAE embassies ask you to call the nearest visa section:
A computer program, "Project Semaphore," will in the future be used to identify people entering the UK. Travelers will also automatically be crosschecked against databases of individuals who pose a security risk and keep a record of entry into the country.
The system will also be used to monitor the duration of people's stay in the UK, thus, helping authorities to make sure visas or work permits are not overstayed. Still, the Semaphore program is not expected to be fully up and running until 2008.