The Home Office has announced today that due to a significant increase in the number of HSMP applications they have received, the HSMP team can no longer meet the current published timescales for assessing applications. The team estimates that complete applications submitted with full supporting evidence will take at least 12 weeks from the date of receipt to be considered. Note that the HSMP team does not acknowledge receipt of applications.
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Immigration news
The Home Office has announced a scheme under which non-EU/EEA nationals can come to the UK to take up work in schools during their gap year (the year between finishing secondary school and commencing University studies).
If you meet the following conditions, you can come to the UK to work in a school as a gap-year entrant:
From 30 April 2004, the fees for the visa category applications below willincrease, as listed below:
The Home Office has recently announced Workers Registration Scheme that set out transitional measures that will apply to nationals from the new EU member states. These will allow nationals of eight of the ten EU accession countries to work in the UK after EU enlargement on 1 May 2004 as long as they register with the Home Office when they take up a job.
The regulations apply to the Eastern and Central European accession countries. Malta and Cyprus are excluded from this registration process because they have obtained full free movement rights under the Accession Treaty in a statement to the House of Commons on 23 February.
South African nationals wishing to apply for a Working Holiday Maker Visa, Student or Work Visa for the UK will now be able to do so online via the Internet. Those living in South Africa can use the online system called "visa4uk" to speed up the processing of their visa applications for the UK.
The online application process also allows residents of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Jamaica and New Zealand to make online applications. More "supported countries" will be added to this list over time.
As we reportedlast week, all visa services in Bulgaria and Romania were temporarily suspended on 30 March, following allegations of improper handling of applications from those seeking to enter the UK under the provisions of the European Community Association Agreements (ECAA).