Home office Archives - Jenny Harvey Immigration

EU Settlement Scheme – Information for Employers

25th July 2018

The Home Office has published a “toolkit” for employers and suggests that employers “cascade it” to their employees.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/728672/EU_Settlement_Scheme_Introduction_To_Employer_Toolkit.PDF

EU employees cannot yet apply for “settlement” – although the application scheme is now being piloted – but the information is a useful summary of how it will work.

There are some useful reminders for employers:

They must not discriminate against EU workers
There will be no change to the rights of EU workers until 2021
They should be careful not to give immigration advice when distributing information

Employers – please contact me for more information and let your EU employees know that I can advise on their current and future rights.

Relaxation of Rules on Absences Calculation

6th July 2018

Certain visa categories including Tier 1 entrepreneurs and Tier 2 (General) workers require an Applicant to show “continuous residence” for a 5-year period when applying for indefinite leave to remain in the UK.

“Continuous residence” can be broken by absences of 180 days or more in 12 months. This used to mean that an Applicant should not have been out of the UK for more than 180 days in any of the 5 years preceding the date of their application. A new rule brought in on 11^th January 2018 meant that an application could be refused if at any point over the 5 years in question the limit was exceeded in any rolling 12 month period.

The new rule was applied retrospectively and has led to widespread condemnation. It has now, from 6^th July 2018, been relaxed, meaning that it won’t apply to absences occurring during leave granted prior to 11^th January 2018.

For more information about this or for any question about applying for indefinite leave please contact Jenny Harvey on info@jennyharveyimmigration.co.uk.

Some Positive Changes for Students

6th July 2018

As of 6^th July 2018, students from an additional 11 countries including China, Japan, South Korea and Thailand will be able to produce a reduced level of documentation when applying for Tier 4 Visas.
The minimum length that a postgraduate course needs to be in order for a Tier 4 student to bring dependents to the UK has been reduced from 12 months to 9 months.
And evidence of previous qualifications now includes print-outs from awarding bodies’ online checking services.

Croatian Nationals – unrestricted rights to work in the UK

2nd July 2018

Croatian Nationals – unrestricted rights to work in the UK as of Sunday 1^st July 2018.

From that date, employers may accept Croatian passports as proof of the right to work and Sponsors will need to update their systems as employees will no longer need authorisation to work.