Changes to the UK Investor Visa

Tier 1 (Investor) visas were introduced in 2008 to allow individuals with at least £1m available to invest to remain in the UK on a long-term basis. They are seen as a shortcut for wealthy foreign nationals to become British citizens. Surprisingly, Chinese nationals accounted for 43% of all Tier 1 visas issued last year. Of the minimum £1m capital invested, no less than £750,000 must be invested in UK government bonds, share capital or loan capital in active and trading UK registered companies. The remaining £250,000 can be invested in other UK assets such as un-mortgaged UK property or cash held in a UK bank account. One challenging condition is that if the value of the investor’s overall investment drops below the £1m threshold at any point during the visa application period, it must be ‘topped up’ by the next reporting period and as such, the portfolio should be cognisant of changes in market movements.

A temptation would be to invest entirely in low risk assets such as UK government bonds but that might not necessarily be the ‘risk-free’ option in the current macro-economic environment, with the requirements for keeping the portfolio’s book value above the £1m threshold. However on February 26th, 2015, the Home Office announced significant changes to the Tier 1 visa immigration rules and these changes will come into effect on November 6th of this year.

Changes include raising the minimum investment threshold from £1m to £2m whilst the full investment sum must be invested in permissible investments rather than 75% of the total as under the previous rules. It is also no longer acceptable to source the investment sum by loan. Most interestingly, the ‘topping up’ requirement has been removed and instead, investors will need to purchase new qualifying investments only if they sell part of their portfolios. The increase in threshold from £1m to £2m is substantial but investors are afforded a higher degree of freedom, likely meaning that this scheme will remain attractive for high net worth individuals seeking to gain a foothold in the UK.

Any visa applications submitted before November 6th, 2014, will be considered in accordance with current rules and clients who have already held a Tier 1 visa would not be affected by the new rules, since they do not have a retrospective effect. Nonetheless, the increase in flexibility has allowed new Chinese Tier 1 clients to adjust the risk levels of their portfolios more freely.

The removal of the requirement for portfolio top up will lead to many investors building a portfolio wholly made up of UK government bonds, due to the principle being safely retained whilst earning a coupon payment on the bonds. This scheme offers a lower opportunity cost than taking investment risk for higher returns, given that the primary purpose of the investment is to achieve British Citizenship. Amid the uncertainty surrounding the 2017 Brexit referendum, a growing number of multi-asset fund and wealth managers are reducing their holdings of UK equities. Many Chinese Tier 1 clients will opt to invest heavily in UK government bonds despite the all-time high reached by the FTSE 100 this week.

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Posted in: Immigration News , travel news , UK Immigration , UK Visa

UK Immigration Minister Announces Changes to Tier 2 visa system

Mark Harper, the UK immigration minister announced a series of proposed changes to the UK immigration system on Thursday 14th March 2013. He told the House of Commons that the changes will be introduced on April 6th 2013. The most significant changes will be made to the Tier 2 visa scheme, the tier visa of the UK's five tier points-based immigration system that is for skilled workers with a job offer.

Mr Harper announced a series of changes including

• Cap for Tier 2 (General) visas fixed at 20,700 per year until further notice
• An update of the Shortage Occupation List. Some medical occupations are removed from the list. Some engineering occupations are added
• Amendments to the Code of Practice for Employers
• Changes to salary thresholds and minimum appropriate salaries for individual occupations
• A series of changes designed to 'further improve flexibility for Intra-Company Transferees and for employers carrying out the Resident Labour Market Test'
• A rise in the level of fees
• The Tier 2 visa system was established in 2008 by the then Labour government. Skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area who have a job offer in the UK can apply for a Tier 2 visa. In order to apply, they must have a valid job offer from a UK employer which has a valid Tier 2 sponsorship licence from the UK Border Agency.

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Posted in: Immigration News , immigration tips , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , UK Visa

Changes on UK Family Visit Visa System

Foreign nationals refused a UK visa for a short visit to see family members in the UK will lose the full right to appeal the decision in the courts, the department of immigration has announced.

The step is a necessary one and will save tens of millions of pounds and free up tribunals to deal with more serious cases said immigration Minister Damian Green. In future the vast majority of failed applicants will have to re-apply, rather than launching a lengthy, taxpayer subsidized appeal.

‘We are not stopping anybody visiting family in the UK. If an applicant meets the rules they will be granted a visa. However, it is grossly unfair that UK taxpayers have had to foot the huge bill for foreign nationals who, in many cases, have simply failed to provide the correct evidence to support their application,’ explained Green.

‘These changes will save tens of millions of pounds and free up immigration tribunals to carry out the much more important work they were intended for,’ he added.

The number of appeals has soared since 2000, when full appeal rights were re-introduced for family visit visas. It was expected that there would be a maximum of 20,000 appeals per year but by 2010/11, the number had risen to almost 50,000.

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Posted in: Immigration News , immigration tips , travel news , UK Embassy , UK Family Visit Visa System , UK Immigration , UK Visa , visa tips

New Temporary UK Visitor Visa Announced

The new UK visa for visitors is aimed at allowing small groups of professionals to visit the UK for a variety of short term purposes. To apply through the new visitor route, applicants need only a formal invitation and proof that the intended visit relates to their field of expertise. Holders of the visitor visa are permitted to stay in the UK for up to one month and undertake paid work for which they have been invited for.

This can include giving a lecture or examination to students, participating in a chair selection panel, providing advocacy or arbitration in a legal dispute or working as a pilot instructor. Applicants can also be professional artists, entertainers or sports professionals invited to the UK to take part in a particular event, exhibition or broadcast which can range from artists exhibiting their own work, attending signings or award ceremonies.

"The Government has introduced quite a bit of new legislation in recent weeks, the majority of it directed towards bringing UK immigration figures down," says Marissa Murdock, Casework Department Manager of the UK Visa Bureau. "However, the new visitor route provides a great opportunity for many needs and circumstances. With so many people having to travel internationally for work, there’s plenty of scope within this new UK visa route for it to become a preferred method of travel for many."

The UK Visa Bureau is an independent immigration consultancy based in London which can help most foreign nationals lodge their UK visa application. This can range from tourist and student visas visiting the UK for short periods of time to permanent settlement in the UK. With qualified and licensed immigration consultants on hand to advise you on every step of the process, the UK Visa Bureau is one of the most experienced consultancies in the UK.

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Posted in: Immigration News , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , UK Immigration System , UK Visa , visa tips

UKBA Launches Priority Visa Services for Thai Visitors

The UK Embassy in Bangkok made an announcement on April 03, 2012 about the introduction of two new premium visa services offered by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and its commercial partner for visitors wishing to enter the UK in 2012 – the year of the London Olympics.

As indicated in the announcement, UKBA launched a priority visa service that allows visitor visa applicants to have their UK visa application placed at the front of the processing queue if they meet certain criteria and pay an additional fee. Applicants have to pay 3,000 baht for the new priority service at the time the application is submitted. The UKBA aims to turn around priority applications within three working days.

In addition, to bring more convenience to applicants, the UKBA also introduced a Prime Time appointment service that allows applicants to make an appointment to lodge their visa application and provide biometrics at the visa application centre on Saturdays. Prime Time appointments must be made online, as stated in the announcement. Customers can also collect their documents between 9am and midday on Saturdays at no charge.

The introduction of the two premium visa services with greater choice and flexibility for Thai applicants is in response to the highly growing demand for UK visitor visas. According to the announcement, the UK is welcoming unprecedented numbers of Thai visitors. Last year, more than 50,000 visitor visas were issued to tourists, family visitors and business travellers from Thailand, a 16 percent increase in comparison with the same period in 2010. 94 percent of all UK visitor visa applications filed in Thailand in 2011 were successful.

"It is great to see that even more Thai people are choosing the UK as the ideal destination to travel and do business. The UK offers a wonderfully diverse range of attractions, from historical sites to modern architectural designs, and some of the best business event and conference facilities in the world," said British Ambassador to Thailand, Asif Ahmad. "We hope to welcome even more visitors in 2012, the year of the London Olympics, where the world can see the best of what Britain has to offer," he added.

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Posted in: Thailand Immigration , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , UK Visa

Thousands of Foreign Students Reported Over Visas

At least 27,121 migrants were reported to the UK Border Agency by universities and other foreign student sponsors between March 2009 and August 2010. The figures were released to the Manifesto Club campaign group under the Freedom of Information Act. Some 228,000 foreign students came to the UK to study last year. Three in four of these come from outside the EU.

In its Students Under Watch report, the Manifesto Club, which campaigns against regulation, said strict visa controls were forcing academics to spy on students, eroding academic autonomy and damaging relationships between students and staff.

Proportionate system

Josie Appleton, the group's director, said: "Academics are not border agents, and they should not be dragooned into spying on their students. "The UKBA now has rights of entry to any university campus, which is a major threat to academic autonomy. We call for a more proportionate system, which recognises the historic autonomy of the university." The University and College Union, which represents academics said the relationship between staff and students was incredibly important.

Its general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "It is built on trust and must not be jeopardised by fears that lecturers may be spying on students. "Successive governments have had plans to turn lecturers into spooks overwhelmingly rejected by the academic community." In July, MPs accused the government of rushing plans to curb student visas, saying they could harm the economy.

'Widespread abuse'

The Home Affairs Select Committee said that it was concerned that official figures indicated the restrictions could cost the economy £3.4bn. Officials estimate the measures will cut net migration by 230,000 by the end of the current parliament. But immigration minister Damian Green said the changes were introduced after full and extensive consultation. A UKBA spokesman said: "There has been widespread abuse of the visa system for too long and we have made radical changes in order to make the system more rigorous and accountable. "We expect education providers who are sponsoring foreign students to make the necessary checks."

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Posted in: foreign students , student Visa , UK Border Agency , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , uk student visa , UK Visa

Stricter UK Visa Rules Put Some Colleges in Bind

Less than six months after the British government announced tighter restrictions on UK student visas, at least one university has said it is being forced to close one of its campuses as a result of the new regulations. Schiller International University, which is based in Florida and has four other international campuses, is closing its London campus and will not start its autumn semester, which was to begin on Tuesday, officials said last week.

The university would not provide enrollment figures but said 80 to 85 percent of its students were from non-European Union countries, which means that they required visas to study in Britain. A person who answered the main office phone at Schiller’s London campus said about 35 students enrolled there last year. “The decision to close our London campus was directly related to the new UK immigration rules,” William Moore, executive vice president of the university, said in an e-mail.

The university, founded in 1964, offers degrees in business, economics and tourism, with the London campus located in the borough of Southwark. The other campuses are in Largo, Florida; Heidelberg, Germany; Madrid; and Paris. The new visa rules were announced in a speech to Parliament in March by Home Secretary Theresa May, in which she said the government was “cracking down on bogus colleges” and “bogus students.” The first of the changes went into effect in April, with more restrictions to be imposed through April 2012.

Reducing immigration has been a major policy issue for David Cameron’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government since it came to power in 2010. In a speech made in September of that year, Immigration Minister Damian Green said that although Britain benefited from immigration, “unsustainable levels of net migration seen in recent years must be brought down.”

But the British Home Office subsequently released a report in June saying that the British economy stood to lose £1.3 billion to £3.6 billion, or $2.1 billion to $5.8 billion, over the next four years, largely as a result of lost productivity from foreign students, graduates and their dependents. Universities also stand to lose £170 million from tuition fees, while the UK Border Agency would lose £160 million in visa processing fees, the report said.

A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency, which is responsible for carrying out the government’s immigration policy, said in a statement that the estimate focused only on student and graduate jobs, which could be filled by British workers, and explained the need for visa reform.

“A significant proportion of the impact is due to less work being done by students, poststudy workers, and their dependants,” said the spokeswoman, who declined to give her name, following agency policy. “This is a worse-case scenario dependent on this work not being filled by the U.K. labor market.”

“The old student visa regime,” she added, “was open to widespread abuse and failed to protect legitimate students from being exploited by poor quality colleges.” Gina Hobson, chief executive of the British Accreditation Council, an independent accreditation body for independent colleges, said the changes could have an effect the institutions in the future. “We’re aware of a couple of other institutions that have decided that it’s no longer viable to run,” she said this month in a telephone interview.

“Given the impact the immigration policies will have on the sector, I expect to see further closures in the private education sector, which may include institutions with partnerships with U.K. universities,” Ms. Hobson said. Under the new, more stringent framework of “educational oversight,” all higher education institutions will be required to obtain so-called Highly Trusted Sponsor status from a much smaller list of official accreditation bodies before they can sponsor prospective foreign students for their visa applications.

Highly Trusted Sponsor status requires institutions to satisfy criteria like minimum enrollment rates and course completion rates, as well as being subject to periodic inspections by the British Home Office. The British Accreditation Council is one of several independent bodies that will lose their power to accredit higher education institutions. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, a body representing Britain’s public universities, said the further impact would be unclear.

“It remains to be seen what long-term impact these changes will have on the numbers of international students applying to come to study at U.K. universities,” she said this month in a statement. According to the British Home Office, the education industry is worth £40 billion annually to the British economy, of which international students contribute £12.5 billion. In 2010, a total of 334,815 student visas were issued by the British government, but the British Home Office has predicted that the new measures will result in 67,000 fewer per year.

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Posted in: UK Border Agency , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , uk student visa , UK Visa

Top Ten UK Immigration Tips for a Higher Chance of Approval

Many of us considered settling in United Kingdom but don’t have enough knowledge about UK Immigration. I have discussed on my earlier post the tips for a successful US Immigration application. Now I’m discussing some tips for a successful UK Immigration and UK visa interview. Read the following tips so your application has a higher chance of approval.

There are certain visa interview tips which should be helpful to the UK Visa applicant:

• The applicant needs to approach the visa consulate officer with confidence and positivity. If you are leaving a current job, mention the reason of leaving with positive intention and the opportunity that can enhance your career prospects.
• Outline the valid reason for leaving the native country and your usefulness in UK. If you are from a technical background do mention that you would add tremendous value to the UK economy.
• Give at least two references working presently in your organization. Give all the answers in a proper manner and to the point. Do not forget to describe the work profile in the companies with whom you have worked.

• Try to answer all his questions without hesitation in the first attempt, which creates a positive impact in the mind of visa consulate officer. Try to reach before the scheduled time of interview and review all the answers for possible questions which will be asked by interviewer.
• Approach the Visa consulate officer with a confident smile. Opt to wear formal dress at the time of interview which often impresses the interviewer, as he or she belongs to United Kingdom where formals are more appreciated in official meetings or interviews.
• The most important attribute would be honesty in answering. If you try to deceive the officer you are more likely to get caught and that may end all your prospects of the UK Visa.
• Try to show a strong financial capability. But do remember it needs to be truth and not fabricated.

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Posted in: immigration tips , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , UK Visa

Major Changes in UK Immigration System

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced the major changes in the Points Based System (PBS), designed to reduce net migration, to build confidence in the Immigration System, to select the best and brightest to work/study in the United Kingdom (UK), and to bear down on the abuses of the system, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) press release.

The Philippine Embassy in London advised Filipino nationals in the UK, especially those who plan to apply for entry to the UK under a work or study route, of the recently announced changes effective April 2011. The Tier 1 (Highly-Skilled Migrants) General Category will be closed to new applications while transitional arrangements will be introduced for existing Tier 1 visa holders looking to extend their stay.

Exceptional Talent Visas will be introduced for people in science and the arts.

Prospective Entrepreneur Visas will likewise be introduced and settlement in the UK for investors will be accelerated.

For Tier 2 (Skilled Migrants) Category, there will be a limit of 20,700 places for Out-of-Country (out of the UK) applications, as the route will become more selective and target the best workers.

Tier 2 will be reserved for graduate occupations determined by the UKBA and the Migrant Advisory Committee (MAC)–the current list includes nurses, medical practitioners, information technology (IT) operations technicians, finance/investment analysts and engineers.

The full list is posted on UKBA website.

Sponsors (Employers) will have to apply for Certificates of Sponsorship (COS) with the UKBA.

COS for Intra-Company transfers, In-Country applications (those already in the UK), and those earning over £150,000 per annum will not be affected by the new limit.

In the Tier 4 (Students) Category, all sponsors must be accredited by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) and its devolved equivalents.

All sponsors must also be a UKBA Highly Trusted Sponsor. University and publicly-funded further education colleges’ students will retain current work rights of 20 and 10 hours a week, respectively. All other students will have no right to work.

Only postgraduate and government-sponsored students on more than 12-month courses can bring dependents, and these dependants can work in the UK. Post-study work route will be closed except for those who have an offer of a skilled job under Tier 2. The current changes and limits will not apply to those who are already in the UK and who entered the country under a different set of guidelines.

Filipinos are advised to check detailed information on the guidelines and requirements for applying to work or study in the UK on the UKBA website. They are also advised to verify any job offers, particularly those secured online, with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) through the agency’s website or via email to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office-UK (POLO): polo.london@yahoo.co.uk or embassy@philemb.co.uk.

Source: Ang OFW Ngayon

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Posted in: UK Border Agency , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , UK Immigration System , UK Visa