On 16th March 2017, the UK Government announced statement of changes to the UK Immigration Rules. The major changes that have been announced are the following: -

Changes relating to applications and validity

  • Paragraph 34(9)(a)(ii) of Part 1 has been changed to clarify that an applicant must make an appointment as part of the application process within 45 business days, rather than 45 calendar days. This gives an applicant a longer period of time to make an appointment;
  • A new paragraph 34BB is being added to provide that an applicant can only have one outstanding application for leave to remain at a time, and that any subsequent application for leave, submitted when an applicant already has an outstanding previous application which has not yet been decided, will be treated as a variation of the previous application. If an applicant submits more than one application on the same date, all the applications will be invalid unless the Secretary of State writes to the applicant asking them to withdraw one or more of the applications and the applicant responds in the specified time confirming which application(s) they will withdraw. 

Changes relating to Tier 1 of the Points-Based System

Tier 1 (Entrepreneur)

Tier 1 (entrepreneur) technical changes to drafting and certain evidential requirements, including an amended definition of ‘invested funds’ and changes in the evidential requirements for applicants who have invested in a LLP, to the specified evidence on job creation and to the specified evidence to demonstrate settled status of employees to confirm jobs created for settled workers.

Tier 1 (General)

The Tier 1 (General) category was closed to new applicants in April 2011 and for extension applications in April 2015, but remains open for indefinite leave to remain applications. A minor change is being made to the time allowed for applicants to respond to requests for further information (from 28 working days to 28 calendar days), to correct a drafting error and for consistency with other categories.

Changes relating to Tier 2 of the Points-Based System

Tier 2 (General)

The following changes are being made:-

  •  The salary threshold for experienced workers is being increased to £30,000 for the majority of new applicants. The salary threshold for new entrants remains at £20,800;
  •  The changes laid in November 2016 (HC 667) exempted nurses, medical radiographers, paramedics and secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science, and Mandarin from the new salary threshold until July 2019. This exemption continues, and a further change is being made to award these occupations extra points when allocating places in the Tier 2 (General) limit, to bring them into parity with occupations paying higher salaries. The additional points only apply where such jobs are not already prioritised due to being included on the Shortage Occupation List;
  •  Exemption from Resident Labour Market Test and restricted Certificate of Sponsorship requirement for relocation of high value business or new inward investment project where sponsor is newly-registered (within last 3 years) branch or subsidiary of an overseas business and involves capital expenditure of £27million or 21 new UK jobs;
  • Changes are being made to the Shortage Occupation List following a separate review by the MAC on teaching shortages, published on 26 January 2017. Secondary school teachers in mathematics and physics are being retained on the list. Secondary school teachers in chemistry are being removed from the list. Secondary school teachers in combined science (where there is an element of physics teaching), computer science and Mandarin are being added to the list;
  •  Annual updates to salary thresholds for high earners and ILR applications based on average weekly earnings data;
  • Tier 4 Students must have satisfied certain study requirements during their continuous stay in the UK to switch into Tier 2 (General) in the UK. A change is being made to also allow Tier 4 Students who have spent time in the Isle of Man, the Bailiwick of Guernsey or the Bailiwick of Jersey in an eligible category since meeting those study requirements to switch into Tier 2 (General) in the UK.

Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer (ICT))

As with Tier 2 (General), a number of changes are being made in response to the review of Tier 2 by the MAC, and have been previously announced. The changes include:

  • The Short-Term Staff sub-category is being closed;
  • The salary threshold for senior transferees who are able to extend their total stay in the category to up to nine years is being reduced, from £155,300 to £120,000;
  • The requirement for transferees to have at least one year’s experience working for the sponsor’s linked entity overseas is being removed for applicants paid £73,900 or above.

 

Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (ICT)

The following changes are being made to both the Tier 2 (General) and the Tier 2 (ICT) categories in response to the review by the MAC:

  • Changes are being made relating to the introduction of the Immigration Skills Charge, to enable a Certificate of Sponsorship to be considered invalid (and therefore for an application to be refused) if any charge which applies is not paid in full;
  • Changes are being made following the MAC’s recommendation that the use of allowances in Tier 2 be reviewed. Changes are being made to provide greater clarity and consistency as to which types of allowance will be considered against the salary requirements. In addition, the closure of the ICT Short Term Staff sub-category means that accommodation allowances can form a maximum of 30% (rather than 40%) of the total salary package for all ICT workers (except Graduate Trainees).

 

Changes relating to Tier 4 of the Points-Based System

The following changes are being made in Tier 4:

  • Tier 4 students who have work rights are limited in the number of hours they may work per week. An amendment is being made to set out a definition of a week, in order to ensure clarity for students, employers and sponsors;
  • Under Tier 4 (General), if the course is below degree level, the grant of entry clearance or leave must not lead to the applicant having been granted more than 2 years in the UK as a Tier 4 migrant since the age of 18 to study courses that did not consist of degree level study. An amendment is being made to extend the time limit to 3 years for courses which are below degree level, but which are subject to a regulatory requirement by the Maritime and Coastguard agency that the applicant must spend at least 12 months at sea;
  • Under Tier 4 (General), all applicants aged 16 and over are required to satisfy the Secretary of State that they are a genuine student. To ensure consistency between the routes, an amendment is being made to Tier 4 (Child) to apply the Genuine Student Rule to those applicants who are aged 16 and over;
  • Under Tier 4 (General), loan funds for maintenance purposes must be made available to the applicant before they travel to the UK. An amendment is being made to allow loan funds to be paid directly to the educational institution in the UK with the living costs portion of the loan released to the applicant before or on arrival in the UK. This change is being made because loans paid directly to educational institutions are deemed to provide sufficient security and evidence that the student has the requisite means to support themselves while studying in the UK;
  • An amendment is being made to clarify that where an applicant is applying for leave to undertake an intercalated bachelor’s or master’s degree course or PhD where they are studying medicine, veterinary medicine and science, or dentistry as their principal course of study, or to complete their principal course, having completed a period of intercalation, they are exempt from the requirement to show academic progression. 

Changes relating to Grounds for refusal

The period of overstaying permitted before a re-entry ban is imposed is reduced from 90 days to 30 days.  No re-entry ban is imposed where a person leaves the UK voluntarily at their own expense and overstaying began before 06 April 2017 and was for 90 days or less, or where the overstaying began on or after 06 April 2017 and was for 30 days or less.

Certain periods of overstaying are disregarded in the calculation of the time:

  • Overstaying of up to 28 days where, prior to 24 November 2016, an application for leave was made during that time and any following period pending the determination of that application, any related appeal or administrative review;
  • Overstaying to which para 39E on out of time applications on or after 24 November 2016 applied and any following period pending the determination of any related appeal or administrative review;
  • Overstaying arising from a decision of the Secretary of State which is subsequently withdrawn, quashed or which a court or tribunal has required her to reconsider, unless the challenge was brought more than 3 months from the date of the decision.