UK Law & Immigration

The Home Office revoked the visas of about 35,000 students. Most were thrown off their courses; 2,500 students were deported and 7,200 left the country after being warned that they faced arrest and detention if they stayed.

What is the Home Office English test scandal? Tens of thousands of students lost their visas after a TV exposé of cheating a decade ago. Many say they were wrongly accused

The UK has introduced the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Jordanian nationals traveling to the UK from February 22, 2024. This expansion of the scheme follows the successful launch of Qataris in October 2023. The ETA replaces the electronic visa waiver (EVW) and removes the visa requirement for short stays in the UK for Gulf and Jordanian nationals.

Under the ETA scheme, nationals of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan can make unlimited visits to the UK over a two-year period or until the holder's passport expires, whichever is sooner, for a fee of £10. This is a significant reduction compared to the previous fees of £30 for Gulf nationals under the EVW scheme and £115 for Jordanians for a single-use visitor visa.

Travel to the UK now cheaper for Gulf and Jordanian visitors UK’s electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme opens for Gulf Cooperation Council and Jordanian nationals, making travel to the UK smoother and cheaper.

🌹🌟🎉 🎈𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 ❄️ 🎁 🎊
As we bid farewell to 2023 and embrace the dawn of a brand new year, we wanted to take a moment to send you our warmest wishes for a truly Happy New Year!
May the year 2024 bring you an abundance of joy, prosperity, and good health. May it be filled with exciting opportunities, memorable experiences, and cherished moments with your loved ones. As the clock strikes midnight, let go of the past and embrace the limitless possibilities that lie ahead.
Wishing you a Happy New Year 2024!

Under changes brought in after Brexit, an EU national’s deportation, as with that of any other nationality, is deemed “conducive to the public good and in the public interest” if they have received a prison sentence of more than 12 months.

Previously, EU nationals who had lived in the UK for five years who had been convicted of a crime would have been deported only “on serious grounds of public policy and public security”, with the threshold for those who have been continuously in the country raised to “imperative grounds of public security.”

British-born man who has never left UK faces deportation Dmitry Lima told he will be sent to Portugal, from where his parents arrived more than 30 years ago, after serving a prison sentence

The UK government has revised the proposal to increase the salary requirement for bringing family members to the country. The threshold will now be set at £29,000 from next spring and increase in incremental stages to £34,500 and then to £38,700. Lord Sharpe of Epsom confirmed the change of plan in response to a parliamentary question.

Ministers row back on salary threshold for family visa The salary threshold for a family visa to come to the UK will go up to £29,000 this spring, instead of £38,700.

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝟒 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫
Increases to immigration and nationality fees to pay for vital services are set to come into effect on 4 October. The changes mean that the cost for a visit visa for less than six months is rising by £15 to £115, while the fee for applying for a student visa from outside the UK will rise by £127 to £490, to equal the amount charged for in-country applications. In July, the government announced a 15% increase in the cost of most work and visit visas, and an increase of at least 20% in the cost of priority visas, study visas and certificates of sponsorship.

Careful consideration is given when setting fees to help reduce the funding contribution from British taxpayers, whilst continuing to provide a service that remains attractive to those wishing to work in the UK and support broader prosperity for all.

The changes include:

Fees for up to 6 months, 2, 5 and 10 year visit visas.
The majority of fees for entry clearance and certain applications for leave to remain in the UK including those for work and study.
Fees for indefinite leave to enter and indefinite leave to remain.
Convention travel document and stateless person’s travel document.
Health and Care visa.
Fees in relation to certificates of sponsorship and confirmation of acceptance for studies.
The in and out of country fee for the super priority service and the out of country fee for the priority service. The settlement priority service will reduce so it is aligned with the cost of using the priority service.
Applications to Register and Naturalise as a British Citizen.
The fee for the User Pays Visa Application service.
Subject to Parliamentary approval, the immigration and nationality fees will increase from 4 October 2023. Today’s changes do not include the planned increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) which are scheduled to be introduced later in the Autumn.

🇬🇧🛂𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 '𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲' 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟐. 🛂🇬🇧

For the first time in 70 years, British passports bearing the title of ‘His Majesty’ will start being issued this week in the name of His Majesty King Charles III. In the first 6 months of 2023, over 5 million passports have been processed, with more than 99% issued within the standard UK service of 10 weeks, the vast majority well within this timeline, with over 90% delivered within 3 weeks. This marks a significant improvement in HM Passport Office’s performance since 2022, during which time 95.4% of passports were issued within this 10-week timeframe.

The earliest recorded British passport can be traced back to the reign of Henry V in 1414, and documents were known as safe conducts. It was not until 1915 that the first modern-style British passports, including a photograph and signature, were first issued.

The first security feature, a special watermark, was introduced in passports in 1972. Since then, a large number of security features have been incorporated into British passports, from watermarks, holograms, elaborately printed patterns, to the polycarbonate page; meaning British nationals can have confidence that there is only one issue of their unique document.

The first burgundy-coloured machine-readable passports were issued in 1988 and over 30 years later, in 2020, the blue cover was re-introduced following the departure of the UK from the EU.

British passports will be issued in the name of His Majesty New British passports will now bear the title 'His Majesty' for the first time since 1952.

✈️🛫 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐊 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐄𝐓𝐀). 🛬 🛩️

From 15 November 2023, you’ll need an ETA if you’re travelling to the UK and you’re a national of Qatar. From 22 February 2024, you’ll need an ETA if you’re travelling to the UK and you’re a national of Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. More nationalities will be added to the scheme later.

As of 30 September 2021, 6.2 million (6,223,350) applications had been received, 93% (5.8 million) were from EEA & Swiss nationals while 7% (443,380) were from non-EEA nationals and 5.8 million (5,823,080) applications had been concluded. There were 171,300 applications received between 1 July and 30 September 2021. Of those, 89,900 were late applications, 45,700 were repeating applicants (with the majority being those moving from pre-settled to settled status) and 35,800 were from joining family members.

This article will tell why Home Office collect foreign nationals' data? What date will be processed? How do they protect your personal information? How long will they keep your data? How your data will be stored? The legal basis for collecting and processing your data transfers personal data to other countries and other information.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/biometrics-self-enrolment-feasibility-trials-privacy-information-notice/biometrics-self-enrolment-feasibility-trials-privacy-information-notice

Biometrics self-enrolment feasibility trials: privacy information notice We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can travel to the UK for holidays or short trips without needing a visa. They can cross the UK border using a valid passport which should be valid for the whole time they are in the UK. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can continue to use the automatic ePassport gates to pass through the border on arrival. They will not be able to use an EU, EEA or Swiss national ID card to enter the UK from 1 October 2021 unless they:
*have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme
*have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme but not yet received a decision
*have an EU Settlement Scheme family permit
*have a frontier worker permit
*are an S2 Healthcare Visitor
*are a Swiss national and have a Service Provider from Switzerland
In these cases, they can continue to use their national ID card to enter the UK until at least 31 December 2025.

There were 6.02 million applications made under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) scheme by 30 June with 5.1 million grants of status. There have been more than 5.3 million applications from England, 291,200 from Scotland, 98,600 from Wales, and 98,400 from Northern Ireland. The surge in applications, including more than 400,000 in June alone, means that there are around 570,000 pending applications. The Government has repeatedly assured those who applied before the deadline that they will have their rights protected until their application is decided, as set out in the law, and they have the means to prove their protected rights if needed.

Applications for the new skilled worker visa open today (1 December), meaning the brightest and the best from around the world can now apply to work in the UK from 1 January 2021. People will generally need to be paid at least £25,600 per year unless the ‘going rate’ for that job is higher. The visa lasts for up to 5 years before it needs to be extended. The Student route and Child Student route opened on 5 October 2020 to eligible international students from across the globe.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/21/appeal-court-quashes-uk-policy-of-removing-migrants-unlawfully

The court of appeal has quashed a Home Office policy of removing migrants from the UK without access to justice.

Appeal court quashes UK policy of removing migrants with little warning Judges emphasise migrants’ right of access to justice under common law in blow to Priti Patel

The Second Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, Shona Dunn, confirmed at the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee that does not intend to extend the visa extension policy beyond 31 July.

https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/684/html/

committees.parliament.uk Members present: Meg Hillier (Chair); Gareth Bacon; Dame Cheryl Gillan; Peter Grant; Shabana Mahmood; Gagan Mohindra; Nick Smith; James Wild.

The United Kingdom would offer a path to citizenship for eligible Hong Kong and the government will honour its promise to British National Overseas (BNO) passport holders. About 350,000 UK passport holders, and 2.6 million others eligible, will be able to come to the UK for five years. The British National Overseas citizens and their dependents who wish to come to the UK will be able to do so. They will be given the right to remain in the UK, including the right to work and study, for five years. After 5 Years, they will be able to apply for permanent residence, and after one more year, they may apply for British nationality.

'How do I convince the Home Office I'm a le***an?'
Article by BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-51636642

'How do I convince the Home Office I'm a le***an?' More than 1,500 people claim asylum in the UK each year, claiming that they are persecuted for being gay. But it's not an easy thing to prove.