News

06.10.2020 - It just got even more difficult for EU nationals to get British citizenship

On 30 September 2020 the Home Office updated its good character policy for naturalisation to make it even harder for EU nationals to become British citizens. 

The new policy doubles the period of time, from five years to ten years, during which certain EU citizens in the UK must have held comprehensive sickness insurance (CSI) or a European health insurance card (EHIC) issued by an EU country, in order to qualify for citizenship.

Before we discuss the latest policy update in detail, some important points:

  • This only affects applicants for British citizenship. 
  • This generally only affec...

05.10.2020 - Immigration Health Surcharge rises to £624 from 27 October 2020

The Immigration Health Surcharge will increase from £400 a year to £624 a year on 27 October 2020. The Immigration (Health Charge) (Amendment) Order 2020 (SI 2020 No. 1086) was made today, 6 October, and comes into force 21 days later. As a result, UK immigration applications sent in before the 27th will be hundreds of pounds cheaper than those completed after that date.

The order also provides that applicants for a Health and Care visa are exempt from paying the surcharge. A reduced rate of £470 will apply to students, dependants of students, Youth Mobility visa holders and anyone under 18.

T...

05.10.2020 - PM lays out vision for post coronavirus UK

UK PM Boris Johnson has vowed to defeat Covid and build a better country over the next decade in his leader's speech to the virtual Conservative conference. Evoking the UK's recovery from World War Two, he said he wanted to build a 'new Jerusalem', with opportunity for all, improved housing and healthcare.

The prime minister also mounted a robust defence of the private sector, saying “free enterprise” must lead the recovery and that that he intended to significantly roll back the extraordinary state intervention the crisis had necessitated.

Among the key pledges in the speech, Johnson said the...

30.09.2020 - NHS and social care workers can now get an Immigration Health Surcharge refund

The government has launched an Immigration Health Surcharge refund scheme for NHS and social care workers. Migrants working in a hospital or care home who don’t have a Health and Care visa will continue to pay the surcharge up front, but can claim it back every six months.

During the pandemic, the Prime Minister promised to exempt migrants propping up the healthcare system from the £400 a year visa tax. That promise was partially fulfilled by waiving the charge for Health and Care visa applicants when that route launched in August.

The refund scheme is for people who are in the UK on a visa gr...

30.09.2020 - EU starts legal action against UK over controversial Brexit law

The European Union is starting legal proceedings against the UK over Boris Johnson’s plan to breach terms of its Brexit divorce deal and break international law.

“The commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the UK government,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced in Brussels on Thursday 1 October. “This draft bill is by its very nature a breach of the obligation of good faith laid down in the Withdrawal Agreement.”

The Internal Market Bill sets out rules for the operation of the UK internal market - trade between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern...

29.09.2020 - Changes to Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme from 1 October 2020

The government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) moves into its final phase this October before a new scheme comes into force. The CJRS will close on 31 October 2020.

From 1st October, the government will pay 60% of wages up to a cap of £1,875 for the hours the employee is on furlough. Employers will pay ER NICs and pension contributions and top up employees’ wages to ensure they receive 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2,500, for time they are furloughed.

Employers will continue to able to choose to top up employee wages above the 80% total and £2,500 cap for the hours not worked at...

29.09.2020 - What is a frontier worker permit and will it help people commuting into the UK for work?

With months to go to the end of free movement on the rather apocalyptic sounding “IP Completion day” (the end of the implementation period, at 11pm on 31 December 2020), the post-Brexit immigration system is finally beginning to take shape.

We now know that there will be another new visa available from 1 January 2021, one aimed at cross-border or “frontier” workers.

Frontier workers are people who work in one country but who live primarily in another. Free movement laws enabled this working pattern to develop and flourish within the EU, but Brexit has left frontier workers who commute into the...

28.09.2020 - Applying for settled and pre-settled status requires genuine residence

The rules on pre-settled status

It is true that under Appendix EU of the Immigration Rules, which put into effect the citizens’ rights provisions of the Withdrawal Agreement, a qualifying EU citizen can move to the UK any time before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020. But those rules also make it clear that someone must have completed a “continuous qualifying period in the UK” to be eligible for the EU Settlement Scheme.

For those who are applying for pre-settled status, that will be a continuous qualifying period of less than five years, which will of course have to be befo...

28.09.2020 - 70 new job types being added to Shortage Occupation List

Under the government’s new Points-Based Immigration System, the minimum salary required to sponsor an overseas worker will be £25,600, unless the worker has a PhD — or is being hired for a role that appears on the Shortage Occupation List. The minimum salary for a shortage job will instead be £20,480. As the Migration Advisory Committee says in its major review of the Shortage Occupation List, published today, this “fundamentally alters the nature of the SOL”. A job being included on the list will mean that employers can sponsor someone for a visa at a salary up to 20% lower than would otherwi...

24.09.2020 - What is the legal status of EU citizens during the post-Brexit “grace period”?

As we’re constantly being reminded, free movement will come to an end this year. From 1 January 2021, EU/EEA/Swiss citizens who wish to move to the UK to work and study will have to meet the requirements of the new points-based immigration system. Existing residents have until 30 June 2021 to apply for settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.

But what of the EU/EEA/Swiss citizens and their family members who already live in the UK (or move here before 1 January), and who only make their Settlement Scheme application in the first six months of 2021? To allow for this six-mo...

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