Immigration newsletter 15 Jul 2010

This is a reminder to everyone that the UK immigration cap that will affect Tier 1 visas and Tier 2 visas will come into effect next Monday. The interim cap will be introduced on 19 July 2010 ahead of the long term cap to be introduced in April 2011. There is hardly any time left to submit your application if you wish to come under the current immigration rules.  You will see further details of the interim cap below:

Tier 2 Visas Interim Cap Details:
 

• The interim limit from 19 July 2010 will only apply to the number of certificates of sponsorship that an employer can issue.   In other respects the requirements for Tier 2 Visas will remain the same.
• There will be a separate allocation of certificates of sponsorship available only for new sponsor licence holders.  This is to try and make sure that there will be Tier 2 visas available for new sponsor licence holders.

Tier 1 Visas Interim Cap Details:
 

• You will in many cases have to come under a higher passmark of 100 points instead of the current 95 points under the Tier 1 visa (General) category from 19 July 2010. 
• If you apply for a Tier 1 visa there will be a monthly interim from 19 July 2010. If you apply for a Tier 1 visa when there are no Tier 1 visas left you will have to wait until the following month to be considered under a new visa allocation.

English Language schools have won an important High Court Victory which means that the current restrictions which do not allow entry on a Tier 4 visa to study English if you have beginners English will have to end. If these restrictions were allowed to continue this would result in thousands of people losing their jobs and perhaps as much as 600 million pounds in lost income for English Language Schools.

The immigration regulations were introduced by the last UK Labour Government to prevent entry of students with only entry level English into the UK. Many people have considered it to be quite ridiculous that you will firstly need to have quite good English if you wish to come to the UK to learn English. Under the regulations those on short courses were also not allowed to bring in their spouses to the UK.

US H-1B visas are one of the most useful temporary US visa categories for entry of professional level specialty workers to the US. In the past many Indian IT specialists have gained entry to the US on the H-1B visa. When the US economy is doing well there is usually a shortage of US H-1B Visas.