Maintenance rules for dependants of Tier 2 migrants under points based system published by UK Border Agency

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has published details of rules on maintenance requirements which skilled migrants must meet when applying to come to the UK under Tier 2 of the points-based system.

Under Tier 2, which went live on 27 November, migrants can prove their maintenance either by:

showing they have personal savings of £800 [...]

Conservative Immigration Spokesman Arrested over Illegal Worker Leaks

Earlier this week the Conservative opposition party immigration spokesman Damian Green was arrested and released on bail in connection with a series of leaks from the Home Office.

Police say Mr Green was held on suspicion of “conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office”.

The MP denied any wrongdoing and said “opposition [...]

Farewell to Work Permits as Tier 2 and 5 goes live

Tier’s 2 and 5 of the much heralded points based system (PBS) went live today signalling a sad farewell to the paper based Work Permit, as well as the popular Working Holiday and TWES schemes.

The five tier Aussie-style points scheme will replace 80 routes in to the UK with around 20, culminating in the [...]

ID cards for Foreign Nationals opens this week

Foreign nationals can now apply for identity cards after the immigration point system was activated this week.
 
In a Government bid to crack down on foreign migrants working illegally the cards will have a facial image and fingerprint recorded so that the holder is locked into a single identity.
 
Identity cards will be mandatory for [...]

Filipino students rescued as colleges feel the crunch

By Cynthia Barker

During a recent spate of UK Colleges closing down or going bust, I have been flooded with calls from anxious international students left high and dry after the collapse of their educational providers.

First there was Affinity, where hundreds of Filipino student visa holders were marooned when the high profile NVQ college went bust [...]

There is a Business Case for Amnesty

By Gene Alcantara
 
25 November 2008
 
 
Mayor Boris Johnson has opened up a long-overdue but vital debate on illegal immigrants. Those lambasting the London Mayor are going on about irresponsibility and naivety but seem to be missing an important point: that there is in fact a business case for the regularisation of illegal immigrants.
 
The Government [...]

What is the point of the points system?

Is the all new points system all it’s cracked up to be, or could the Home Office have simply adapted the existing scheme to suit the current needs of the country?

Will we have a robust system with reduced scope for abuse, or a scheme as wide open as a ‘Self Cert’ mortgage with no [...]

New FLR Forms for Further Leave to Remain Applications

New FLO(O) forms, to be used after 27 November 2008, have been published by Uk Border Agency this week.
 
If you are making an application for Further Leave to Remain on or after 27 November 2008, you must use the new version (11/2008) of the FLR(O) form.
 
Full details and guidance on completing application form FLR(O) [...]

London Mayor Boris Johnson looking at amnesty for illegal immigrants

The Mayor of London is to commission a study to examine the viability of an amnesty for illegal immigrants in the capital.
 
Boris Johnson said that deporting thousands of people working illegally in the UK was “just not going to happen”.
 
He told Channel 4 News that allowing long-term illegal immigrants to earn the right [...]

RP wants to send nurses to Czech Republic GMA News Report

GMA News report that Czech Republic is experiencing a shortage of nurses, as their own health care workers chose to work in Austria and Germany