Immigration news

The UK government has reportedly been holding secret talks over a short-term UK visa for overseas lorry drivers in a bid to tackle overwhelming staff shortages across the haulage industry. It’s understood that officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) are consulting with haulage industry bosses as driver shortages hit more than 100,000.

 

A new report released by UK-based anti-corruption charity, Spotlight on Corruption, has listed the top-ranking countries whose citizens have been granted the so-called UK golden visa. Between 2008 and 2020, thousands of millionaires have been approved for a UK Tier 1 investor visa.

 

The US has imposed visa restrictions on 100 Nicaraguan officials accused of involvement in a government crackdown on political opponents and rights abuses. The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has been widely blasted by world leaders as his regime targets his opposition with a wave of arrests. 

 

Ortega’s crackdown comes ahead of elections in Nicaragua in November. Recently, the brother of opposition leader Cristiana Chamorro – who has already been detained – was arrested by Nicaraguan police under the country’s new, so-called sovereignty law.

Over 1,000 Chinese students plan to sue over continued US visa restrictions. Beijing recently blasted the continued denial of access to US study visas for its citizens, urging the Biden administration to ‘correct the mistakes made’ under former US President, Donald Trump. Since the US embassy reopened to process visas in May, rejection rates have soared.  

The Chinese students most affected by the restrictions are those with a background in tech.

The Home Office will allow migrants to work on offshore wind farms without UK visas in an ‘11th hour’ U-turn. However, the last-minute decision to extend the visa waiver has been blasted by MPs and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) Workers’ Union. Karl Turner, the MP for Hull East, described the U-turn as a ‘further blow for UK seafarers’.

 

A lawsuit filed against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the closure of a toll-free US immigration hotline depicted in the hit Netflix series ‘Orange Is The New Black’ has been settled, according to a report published by NBC News.