Wednesday, 3 June 2015

Immigration News: June 2015


The Queen's Speech | Immigration Bill (Working in the UK)

The new British government has outlined its plans to further control immigration in the Immigration Bill announced as part of The Queen's Speech.

The key proposals were as follows:
  • Introduction of an offence of illegal working - police will be given the power to seize the wages paid to illegal workers as the "proceeds of crime".
  • A new enforcement agency will be introduced to tackle the worst cases of exploitation of low-skilled workers.
  • It will be an offence for businesses and recruitment agencies to hire abroad without first advertising the jobs in Britain and in English.
  • A consultation will be undertaken on funding apprenticeship schemes for British and EU workers by implementing a new visa levy on businesses that use foreign labour.
  • They will make it easier to evict illegal migrants, as an additional measure, alongside the national rollout of the landlord scheme established in the Immigration Act 2014.
  • Ensure the banks take action against existing current accounts held by illegal immigrants.
  • Extend the principle of "deport first, appeal later" from just criminal cases to all immigration cases, except where it would cause serious harm.
  • All foreign criminals awaiting deportation will be fitted with tracking tags.
You can read about the new Immigration Bill in The Queen's Speech (pages 36-37) here.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, also delivered a speech on 21st May 2015, in advance of The Queen's Speech, in which he announced the new government's plans to control immigration. In this, he discussed their plans to reform the immigration and labour market rules, reducing the demand for skilled migrant labour and cracking down on the exploitation of low-skilled workers. The Prime Minister's speech on Immigration can be read here.




Visa application process - flow charts


 UK Visas and Immigration have published flow diagrams showing the application process for the various visa categories under the Points-Based System.

You can download the flow charts here.




Migration Statistics Quarterly Report, May 2015 (Working in the UK)

The Office for National Statistics has published their Migration Statistics Quarterly Report, May 2015.

Net long-term migration to the UK (immigration less emigration) was estimated to be 318,000 in the calendar year 2014. This was less than the previous peak in 2005 (320,000) but a significant increase from 2013 (209,000)

You can download the full Quarterly Migration Statistics report here.


Skilled Labour Immigration - report by The Migration Observatory

The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford has published a report on the effects of the re-election of the Conservative Party on the cap for skilled labour.

It reports that the limit on UK Tier 2 visas for skilled migrants was almost exceeded in the period ending April 2015. The number of applications for Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) for skilled migrants outside the EU has increased as the UK's economic recovery took hold. However, if this trend continues, the number of applications for skilled migrants who are subject to the cap is likely to exceed the cap level of 20,700. It is unlikely that the cap on skilled migrant workers will be increased, as the Conservative manifesto for the 2015 election made a commitment to "maintain [the] cap at 20,700 during the next parliament".

The first jobs that are likely to become ineligible for visas when the cap is oversubscribed would be ones that are not on the shortage or PhD lists. Employers in industries that tend to pay lower wages will be affected sooner, e.g. nurses.

The full commentary can be read here.

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