Immigration news

The Home Office has announced that the reintroduction of in-person, UK immigration right to work checks will be pushed back to 21 June. Employers were initially notified that in-person UK visa right to work checks would resume on 17 May. The decision to delay the resumption of in-person checks has been widely welcomed by British businesses.

 

In a UK government U-turn, Border Force immigration officials have been ordered to stop detaining EU citizens without UK visas. In recent weeks, it has been widely reported that EU nationals without the correct UK visa have been held in ‘prison-like’ detention centres, sparking fury among European governments.

 

Romania will remain on a list of three EU members whose citizens require a visa to travel to the US, according to Romania’s foreign affairs minister, Bogdan Aurescu. The announcement comes amid a high US visa refusal rate among Romanian citizens. A stipulation of US visa-free travel for another country’s citizens is a visa refusal rate below 3%.

 

US President Joe Biden has revoked an order issued by former President Donald Trump, which sought to deny US visas to immigrants unable to afford healthcare costs. In a statement issued by Biden, he said: “The previous proclamation issued by Donald Trump does not advance the interests of the United States.”

 

With the June deadline looming for citizens of the European Union (EU) to apply for UK settled status, new figures show that more than five million EU nationals have applied for the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS). The figure is thought to be around double the number of EU citizens believed to be living in Britain prior to the Brexit referendum. 

 

Google is reportedly leading a huge effort by US tech giants to back a program that gives the spouses of H1B visa holders authorization to work in the US. The multinational tech company is joined by 30 other firms in support of the H4 EAD (Employment Authorization Document) program.