UK Visa/Passport News

Two million non-UK EU nationals have applied to stay in the United Kingdom post-Brexit, under the EU Settlement Scheme. According to the Home Secretary Priti Patel, internal figures show that Home Office has admitted two million applications so far, despite that the EU Settlement Scheme statistics released on October 9 show that 1,860,200 applications have been received until the end of September 2019. While 231,500 applications were received during the testing phase, the rest of applications were [...]

Last week the UK government introduced the new UK two-year post-study work visa for foreign students graduating in the UK. In fact, the government is only reintroducing the post-study visa that existed until 2012, before the then-Home Secretary Theresa May, scrapped it, and introduced a four-month post-graduation visa. The reintroduced visa for foreigners graduating in the UK that want to work there or search for work has been updated including safeguarding in order to ensure that “only [...]

In the eve of Brexit, the United Kingdom government has decided to add a few extra skilled occupations to the shortage list, including architects, veterinarians, and web designers. The Immigration Minister Seema Kennedy announced the expansion of shortage of occupation list, which will give people coming to the UK to work in these industries priority in securing a Tier 2 work visa, over occupations not on the list. “Giving British based businesses the access to the brightest [...]

The United Kingdom Home Office Secretary, Priti Patel has tasked the Migration Advisory Committee to review the Australian immigration systems and other similar systems, in a bid to find update the current UK PBS. In a letter to Professor Alan Manning, the Chair of the Migration Advisory Committee, Home Secretary, Priti Patel asks the MAC to report by January 2020 on a review of the Australian immigration system and similar systems in order to find the best [...]

The UK government has decided to introduce harder border controls in the event of a no-deal Brexit, applying a tougher UK criminality threshold for EEA citizens in order to keep out and deport those who commit crimes. According to a press release of the Uk government the changes will be introduced alongside a new European Temporary Leave to Remain for EEA and Swiss citizens and their close relatives. “Citizens of those states moving to the UK after [...]

The government of the United Kingdom has allocated £3 million in grant to fund charities and other voluntary organizations to help the UK nationals currently living in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway about the need to register or apply for residency post-Brexit. According to a statement published by the UK government portal, the government wants to support the over 1 million UK nationals that live in the EU and EFTA countries – focusing on those [...]

11 percent more Indian travelers have visited the United Kingdom from July 2018 to June 2019, compared to the same previous 12-month period. According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics latest quarterly report on Migration Statistics over 503,000 Indian passport holder were granted with visitor visas for the year ending June 2019. British High Commissioner to India, Dominic Asquith asserts that the new figures are good news for the relationship between the UK and India. He [...]

The head of two Home Office sections, Mark Thomson,  director general of HM Passport Office (HMPO) and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), will leave his office in March next year. Thompson's decision was made known through a leaked email that he sent to his staff. “The sharp-eyed amongst you may notice that my job has been advertised today. I wanted to let you all know that after five years in the Home Office I have decided the [...]

A no-deal Brexit scenario could now mean no more visa-free traveling to the UK for citizens of the EU countries as of 31 October, the day on which Brexit has been scheduled to take place. The new Home Office Secretary of the Boris Johnson Government, Priti Patel, allegedly wants to toughen the Home Office's stance when it comes to freedom of travel. Senior officials from the Home Office have traveled to Singapore, on Patel's orders, to study [...]

Within four and a half months since the EU Settlement Scheme was launched in the United Kingdom, about a million EU citizens living in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have received the status granted under the scheme. Acceding to a press release of the UK government more than 50,000 people lodged their applications in the opening weekend alone. Up to the end of July, 950,000 applications were filed in England, 50,000 in Scotland, 15,000 in Wales [...]