Civil Penalties Consultation
The Government has published its response to the Home Office consultation on 'Strengthening and simplifying the civil penalty scheme to prevent illegal working' including the responses received to the consultation, the government's views and the steps they now intend to take to implement the proposals.
The key point is an increase in the penalty to £20,000 per illegal worker if an employer breaches the right to work checks on more than one occasion. The penalty for a first breach will be £15,000. The Government will also remove the partial check as a mitigating factor in view of the Home Office's parallel commitment to making the right to work checks easier to conduct. In future warning letters will be limited to circumstances where it is a first breach and an employer is able to demonstrate that they have effective recruitment processes in place which are generally compliant with the regulatory duty; a history of compliance; and meet the other published mitigating factors (reporting suspected illegal working and active co-operation with the Home Office's investigation).
In combination, the Government is promoting increases in the use of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) as a means of simplifying the checks that employers are required to make. Whilst the Home Office plans to increase the issuing of BRPs to new migrants, the rollout of BRPs to those already in the UK remains a matter for further consideration.
The Government is also proposing to dispense with "unnecessary" annual checks on an employee with time-limited status who has several years of permission remaining and replacing these with a check at the point of expiry of the visa.
The majority of the changes are likely to be introduced in April 2014. In the meantime, the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement operation has already been stepping up its enforcement against illegal working.
You can find the Government's full response at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249531/Results_of_the_consultation_on_illegal_working.pdf
Immigration Statistics, April to June 2013 (Working in the UK)
The Home Office (UKBA) has published the Immigration Statistics for the period April to June 2013.
The key points in relation to working in the UK were as follows:
- There was a 2% fall in the number of work visas issued. This was due to the lower number for High Value (Tier 1) individuals following the closure of the Tier 1 General and Tier 1 Post Study categories to new applicants, partially offset by an increase for skilled workers (Tier 2).
- There was a 9% increase in work-related extensions to 145,855, which was largely due to the higher number of grants for skilled workers (Tier 2).
- Approvals under the Sector Based Scheme for Bulgarian and Romanian nationals fell by 22% and approvals under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme fell by 5% to 19,292.
The full report can be downloaded at:
English language tests for applications under Tiers 1 and 2 of the points-based system (Working in the UK)
The Home Office (UKBA) has made some amendments to the list of approved English language tests for applications made under Tiers 1 and 2 of the points-based system.
This version clarifies further the amendments made to Appendix O of the Immigration Rules in July 2013, setting out the documents that can be used as evidence.
You can download the revised list of approved English language tests here.
New Tier 2 Priority application form
The Home Office (UKBA) has published a new version of the Tier 2 Priority application form and the associated guidance notes.
This form is for use by applicants who are already in the UK.
Applicants applying on or after 14 October 2013 should use this form although the UKBA will continue to accept applications made on the previous version of this form up to and including 5 November 2013.
The new Tier 2 Priority application form can be downloaded here.
New application forms
The Home Office (UKBA) has published new versions of the following forms:
- Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent)
- Tier 1 (Investor)
- Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur)
- Tier 1 (General)
- Tier 2 (Priority)
- Tier 2 (Priority Dependant)
- Tier 2 (Main applicant)
- Tier 5 (Temporary Worker)
- PBS Dependant application form for dependants of Tier 1, 2 and 5 migrants.
These forms are for use by applicants who are already in the UK.
A new version of the following application form for applicants who are in or outside the UK has also been published:
- Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) Endorsement
Applicants applying on or after 1 October 2013 should use these new forms. However, the UKBA will continue to accept applications made on the previous versions of these forms up to and including 22nd October 2013.
New guide on preventing illegal working in the UK
The Home Office (UKBA) has published an updated version of their 'full guide for employers on preventing illegal working in the UK'.
The guidance includes information about the:
- Restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian nationals ending on 31 December 2013
- Restrictions on Croatian nationals which come into force on 1 July 2013
- Fast payment option for paying a civil penalty
The guidance also contains information about the additional circumstances in which a sponsor licence can be revoked if you receive a civil penalty.
The revised guidance can be downloaded here.
EDUCATION
English language tests for applications under Tier 4 of the points-based system (Education)
Immigration Statistics, April to June 2013 (Education)
The Home Office (UKBA) has published the Immigration Statistics for the period April to June 2013.
The key points in relation to studying in the UK were as follows:
- The number of study visas issued to non-EEA nationals has continued to fall compared with the previous 12 months, although they have fallen less quickly than previously.
- There was a 5% decrease in study visas issued, mainly due to the fewer number of Pakistani and Indian students applying. However, there were increases for other nationals, such as Chinese and Libyans.
- There was a 2% decrease in sponsored study visa applications. There was a 4% increase for the university sector, compared with falls in the further education (-25%) and independent schools (-3%) sectors.
- There was a 5% increase in student visitor visas issued. The nationalities accounting for the increase for student visitor visas were different from those contributing to the drop in study visas over the same period.
The full report can be downloaded at:
English language tests for applications under Tier 4 of the points-based system (Education)