Tech City on visas: Stop complaining, Start claiming

Critics of the U.K.’s recent changes to immigration rules — which introduced new startup visas for entrepreneurs, but eradicated an entire class of visa used by engineers — are not taking full advantage of the system, according to Tech City chief Eric van der Kleij.

Speaking to GigaOM, the CEO of Tech City Investment Organization — the government arm charged with boosting London’s credentials as “the digital capital of Europe” — said that while the caps imposed on the number of skilled workers who can migrate to Britain have caused controversy, the reality is that applications for residency have been massively under-subscribed. “They [startups] tell me they’re worried about the skills shortage and the type of visa that you hire talented, skilled people on,” he told me. “They’re worried because they see caps of just 20,000 people a year.”

“So I asked the question: how many have been used? Last year half of the 20,000 have been used — half of them not used.” His comments are an attempt to head off complaints about migration that many feel is having a negative impact on Britain’s burgeoning startup scene. Those criticisms began when the government rushed through its British “startup visa”, allowing entrepreneurs and investors with substantial financial backing to apply for the right to live and work in Britain. But in bringing in the new rules, the government eradicated the startup visa’s predecessor, the general Tier 1 visa — a category which applied to highly skilled migrant workers without a corporate sponsor.

Instead, previous Tier 1 applicants were directed towards the broader Tier 2 visa — a more restrictive version, similar to America’s H-1B, and which has an annual cap of just 20,700 immigrants. At the time, this caused a variety of concerns. At Techcrunch, a prominent startup lawyer claimed the new rules “were only halfway there”, and there was consternation from those who would have previously been able to migrate to the U.K. after studying there.

Meanwhile industry leaders worried that the cap could have far-reaching implications across a range of jobs and industries. But van der Kleij said emphatically that concerns about the cap were misdirected, since there was no evidence that applicants were being turned away because of the limitation on numbers. “People that I hugely regard were tweeting “this is madness!” — but I am able to ask the question of why is there a cap, and how many were approved,” he said. “I asked more questions, like how many were turned down. Every single one that was qualified was approved. “

However, he did admit that an early version of the rules — which placed monthly quotas on companies who were sponsoring new applicants, were “horrible” and had to be rapidly reworked. “At the changeover there was a horrible cap per company, and that was badly handled. That was at the beginning of last year, and companies were absolutely right to shout about.”

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Immigration Lawyer For Your Visa Needs

Contrary to what many people might think, an immigration lawyer is not just someone you call after you’ve gotten in trouble. He or she is also someone to help you avoid getting in trouble in the first place. Entering the United States is always highly restricted, but it is even more so for individuals hailing from a country that is not one of the 36 that participate in a visa waiver program that allows people to come and go without having to apply for visas. For these individuals, applying for the necessary paperwork to travel to the United States can be a daunting and difficult process.

An immigration lawyer will be the first to tell you that there are over 30 different types of U.S. visas, each for a variety of different reasons. By far the two most common are immigrant and non-immigrant visas, which allow entry into the U.S. for two vastly different but very common reasons. Non-immigrant visas allow a person to enter the U.S. for a temporary stay. This could mean simply for a vacation or a business trip or to attend college at an American school. It could also be to visit family or friends. This type generally includes a time limit in terms of how long a person can legally remain at their destination.

An immigrant visa is the most difficult and time-consuming to obtain because it allows for entry into the country for no set amount of time, possibly for the purpose of earning the right to work through a green card or eventually full citizenship status as well. The catch with these documents is that they do not authorize the actual stay in the U.S. itself, only the opportunity to cross the country’s borders and petition for the right to remain. This is where an immigration lawyer can be most necessary, as those who have had visas issued are allowed to reach a U.S. port of entry, where their case is considered by a domestic immigration official. At this point that official could authorize the alien to enter the country and honor the terms of the issued visa, or he or she may turn that person away and refuse entry.

An immigration lawyer knows the rights and privileges of foreign nationals trying to enter the United States as well as anyone. They are best equipped to file effective and successful paperwork to allow the process to proceed as seamlessly as possible. He or she is also able to pick up a case already in progress and can help produce needed results as quickly as possible so that a resolution and final determination is ultimately reached.

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Posted in: how to get visa , Immigration Consultants , immigration lawyer , visa needs