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It has just been announced by the Home Office Minister that thesuspension of visa services in Romania and Bulgaria have been lifted.
From tomorrow, 20 May, visa offices in Sofia and Bucharest will begin accepting visa applications under the Sectors Based Scheme (SBS), Seasonal Agricultural Workers (SAWS), Work Permit and Highly Skilled Migrant Programmes (HSMP).
Self-employed visa applications under the European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) remain suspended.
The Home Office has announced that the Sectors Based Scheme (SBS) programmewill be extended for a further 12 months from 1 June 2004.
The quota was filled for the SBS Hospitality industry (hotel and cateringwork) on 31 March of this year, so currently no SBS work permit applicationscan be made for jobs in this sector. However, the quota for the FoodManufacturing industry part of the scheme (meat and fish processing andmushroom production only) was not filled and applications are continuing tobe accepted.
A report from an Irish job agency has claimed that there are over 500,000 jobs in the UK for East and Central Europeans to fill.
In the report, a representative of this Irish job agency stated that some 360,000 people from Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are expected to apply for jobs in the UK each year. This report comes amidst fears across the "old" 15 EU member states that there will be an influx of job-seekers from the 10 new EU member states.
The Home Office has announced further delays in processing HSMP applications, due to an unexpected increase in the number of HSMP applications received.
The HSMP Team has asked all applicants to refrain from calling, e-mailing and faxing with enquiries that are not of the "utmost urgency" and only if your application was sent to the Team before February 2004.
Visitors wishing to travel to Australia from the ten countries joining the European Union (EU) on 1 May will now be able to use an electronic visa service to lodge a tourist visa application.
From 1 July 2004, the electronic visa lodgement facility, known as eVisa, will be extended to people from Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.
eVisa allows people to apply for a tourist visa on the Internet and makes it easier for clients to apply who do not have easy access to an Australian embassy or consulate.
The Home Office has announced details of the Worker Registration Scheme applicable to citizens from the eight Central and Eastern European EU accession countries who wish to come to the UK to work.
Citizens of these eight countries currently working in the UK or intending to work in the UK will need to register themselves with the Worker Registration Team at the Home Office if they start a new job in the UK on or after 1 May or if they have been working illegally in the UK before 1 May.
Those individuals who do not have to register include: