Immigration news

In country UK Skilled Worker visa applicants may have been hit by COVID-19 related concessions, according to a report published by Personnel Today. It’s understood that Home Office guidance issued for Skilled Worker visa applicants was amended on 23 December at 5.32pm, when many British businesses would have closed for Christmas.

 

The H1B visa system has been modified following the announcement of a final rule by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The new look H1B visa program will prioritize skills and salary level over the lottery system. 

 

The changes are said to be in the interests of protecting US workers and ensuring that the most highly skilled foreign workers benefit from the H1B visa program. The final rule announced by USCIS will come into effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register.

Amid efforts to improve UK border security following Brexit, the government has announced a series of measures, including the extension of the UK visa waiver program. Additional efforts to secure UK borders include a newly launched points-based immigration system, investment in infrastructure and technology and passport requirements.

 

According to reports, President-elect Joe Biden will have the immediate opportunity to end Trump’s controversial US immigration public charge rule. If viable, the end of the rule would ease the anxiety of millions of immigrants currently denied federal benefits and the opportunity to upgrade their US immigration status.

 

Ahead of the launch of the UK’s BNO visa - exclusively for Hong Kong nationals - on January 31, new research shows that Britain has emerged as the relocation destination of choice for citizens of the Special Administrative Region. In December 2020, Workpermit.com reported that the UK government had underestimated the take-up of the BNO visa.

 

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently ruled that Trump can ban immigrants from US entry if they don’t have approved health insurance. Judge Daniel Collins, appointed by the outgoing US President, ruled that Trump had the authority to block immigrants from entering the US without health insurance under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).

 

Judge Jay Bybee, appointed under the George W. Bush administration, sided with Judge Collins’ ruling, while Judge A. Wallace Tashima, a Bill Clinton appointee, dissented.