Immigration news

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced the launch of a US-style digital visa system in Britain. The Home Secretary claims that the system will help the UK government accurately count, for the first time, the number of people entering and exiting the UK. 

 

Under the new system, people travelling to the UK without a visa or immigration status would have to apply for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) document – similar to the US ESTA. An ETA will automatically determine the eligibility of travellers for UK entry in advance, according to Patel.

Delays to US visas mean that Chinese students are snubbing American higher education in favor of studying in the UK. According to the Chinese embassy in the UK, nearly 216,000 Chinese students are pursuing their studies in Britain. Both the US and UK currently have a strained relationship with China, mainly over new security laws imposed on Hong Kong.

 

The British Fashion Council (BFC) has announced that it has secured UK visa concessions for models and creative freelancers. After working closely with the British Fashion Model Agents Association (BFMA), and the Home Office with the support of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the BFC was able to secure an agreement.

 

A change to UK immigration rules will see the introduction of a ‘Stop-the-Clock’ system under the T5 (Temporary Worker) Creative and Sporting visa.

US lawmakers are urging the State Department, Department of Defence (DoD) and the White House to accelerate US visa processing for Afghan interpreters who supported US troops in Afghanistan. The call for faster action comes ahead of the planned withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

 

UK immigration lawyers have been left fuming by reforms that could see them hit with ‘wasted cost orders’ (WCO) as part of Home Office plans to end what it describes as ‘the practice of bringing immigration and asylum claims without merit and at the last minute to delay the deportation process’.

 

The Biden administration has lifted a regulation proposed by former US President, Donald Trump, which sought to narrow the definition of ‘speciality occupation’ under the H1B visa program. The removal of the regulation is a welcome relief for Indian IT firms in particular, which are the biggest beneficiaries of the US H1B visa program.