Following UK Work Permits Ltd’s merger with Judicium PLC, we will be moving offices on Thursday 20th October to Watling Street, in the City of London, close to Bank and St Paul’s tube stations. The move is not expected to cause any disruption for our clients; however, access to some files may be restricted on the day.

Our new address will be as follows:

UK Work Permits Ltd
25 Watling Street
London
EC4M 9BR

Visitors will continue to be seen by appointment only.

Telephone and fax numbers will remain:

Tel: 0845 226 4030
Fax: 0845 226 4033

All existing company email addresses will continue to function.

Judicium is an established regulatory consultancy offering a portfolio of services connected with regulatory compliance, such as employment law, health and safety compliance, data protection, and FSA compliance. With the addition of UK Work Permits Ltd, the group now offer a more comprehensive range of connected services to be provided to the clients of both organisations.

The UK Border Agency announced on 22^nd March 2011 that the current Tier 1 (Post Study Work) category will be closed from April 2012. The function of this category will be partially replaced with an expansion of the Tier 2 (General) scheme.

The new subcategory of Tier 2 will allow individuals graduating from a UK university with a recognised degree, PGCE or PGDE to switch into Tier 2 from their current student or Tier 4 student visa without leaving the UK. There will be no limit on the number of students able to switch in this way. In order to switch into Tier 2, a graduate will need to be sponsored by an employer holding a Sponsor’s licence under Tier 2. In addition, the role will need to be considered a graduate level position in line with the UK Border Agency’s occupational codes of practice.

As a concession to graduates who are able to switch into Tier 2, it will not be necessary for the sponsor to meet the usual Tier 2 requirement of carrying out the Resident Labour Market test.

Please note that, unlike the current Tier 1 (Post Study Work) category, applicants will only be able to switch into Tier 2 under the conditions mentioned above if they are in the UK and before their visa expires. Individuals unable to apply from within the UK will need to meet the usual requirements for Tier 2 (General) and will not benefit from the concessions offered to UK graduates still holding a valid visa inside the UK.

The fact that these changes have been announced may suggest that Students studying below degree level courses may not be able to switch into Tier 2 from within the UK from April 2012. The UK Border Agency has not announced any information on this issue and as such we are unable to confirm the situation for students studying for a below degree level qualification.

We would advise individuals who wish to remain in the UK after their studies to make an application for Tier 1 (Post Study Work) while the category remains open. For advice and assistance with making this kind of application, please contact us.

UK Work Permits Ltd is delighted to announce that it is now a part of Judicium Plc. Judicium is an established regulatory consultancy offering a portfolio of services connected with regulatory compliance, such as employment law, health and safety compliance, data protection, and FSA compliance. The merger will enable a more comprehensive range of connected services to be provided to the clients of both organisations.

Further to our previous article, we can now confirm that all Tier 1 (General) appointments for the main Public Enquiry Office in Croydon have been booked up until the closing of the Tier 1 (General) scheme on the 6th April 2011.  We would advise all initial applicants to submit postal applications as soon as possible. We are currently offering discounted consultancy fees relating to postal applications.

For those individuals looking to extend their current HSMP or Tier 1 (General) visa after April, we do have available appointments from 6th April onwards. Please contact us to secure these.

Results of February 2011 UK Border Agency Panel Meeting

The UK Border Agency has recently published the results of its Panel Meeting from the beginning of February 2011. For an explanation of this process, please refer to our previous news article here.

This month, the UK Border Agency has awarded Tier 2 (General) Certificates of Sponsorship to requests for roles with a salary at or above the following:

For shortage occupation roles:                      £32,000 per annum

For non-shortage occupation roles:               £36,000 per annum

These new figures indicate again that these thresholds are subject to change from month to month, and may go down again for the one monthly panel meeting left before the permanent cap is introduced in April this year.

UK Work Permits would not discourage sponsors from submitting requests this month even if the request is for a role with a salary below the thresholds stated above. There is no fee for submitting a request, and if it is rejected, there is nothing to stop it being submitted the following month.

UK Work Permits is always happy to give free initial advice regarding the viability of requests for Certificates of Sponsorship, and the process of issuing those CoS once granted. If you would like to make a request or have any further queries, please contact us.

Demand for Premium Service (“Same Day”) appointments is at an all time high. Discounts are currently available for postal applications.

Following the announcement that Tier 1 General is due to be closed on 5^th April 2011, a large number of potential applicants have sought to submit their applications through the Premium (same day) service.

As a result, at the time of writing, it is effectively impossible for any legal representative organisation, or individual, to obtain extra premium service appointments for Tier 1 General applications. All legal representatives appear to be in the same position: all same day appointments for these applications are fully booked until the 5^th of April.

We are receiving large volumes of enquiries from concerned individuals who are desperate to obtain a same day appointment, and many individuals are understandably anxious and reluctant to admit defeat. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, there simply are no extra same-day appointment slots available.

We anticipate that this situation will result in a very large number of Tier 1 (General) applications being submitted by post around the end of March (when large numbers of people eventually give up on the possibility of obtaining a same-day appointment), and that this will in turn lead to a significant backlog at the UK Border Agency, and long delays for applicants.

Individuals who apply soon however are likely to receive a much quicker response from the UK Border Agency than those who apply towards the closure date. To encourage individuals to apply before the peak of this backlog, we are currently offering discounted consultancy fees relating to postal applications. Our fees are currently as follows:

-£675 +Vat for employed applicants

-£765 +Vat for self employed applicants

These discounted fees will be on offer until we have reached capacity for applications to be submitted prior to the end of March. Given the number of enquiries we are receiving, we expect this to be relatively soon.

We recommend that those interested in gaining approval under Tier 1 General before the scheme is closed, contact us for a free initial assessment of their case. Anybody wishing to discuss the situation regarding Premium Service appointments is also welcome to contact one of our consultants

Clients and prospective clients should please take note of the following. UK Work Permits Ltd will be closed for business between 5.30pm Thursday 23rd December 2010 and 9.00am 4th January 2011.

Interim immigration cap ruled unlawful following High Court judgment

The interim immigration cap which was introduced in July 2010 to prevent a ‘rush’ of applications prior the permanent limit in April 2011 has been ruled unlawful by the High Court, following a challenge by the JCWI and ECCA.

The High Court judges concluded that the home secretary had not gone through the proper parliamentary procedures before implementing the cap.

Our understanding of this judgment is that the interim cap is no longer in force. This means there is no current restriction on the number of Tier 1 (General) visas that may be granted from outside of the UK, or the number of Certificates of Sponsorship which may be issued to employers in the UK. However, it should be mentioned that the granting of Certificates of Sponsorship was always subject to the discretion of the UK Border Agency.

Damian Green, immigration minister, has suggested that the Government may appeal the verdict and has stated “We will do all in our power to continue to prevent a rush of applications before our more permanent measures are in place.”

We would recommend that individuals wishing to apply for Tier 1 (General) from outside of the UK should apply as soon as possible, so as to take advantage of the apparent ‘stop’ in the interim immigration cap.

We would also recommend that any companies wishing to sponsor migrant workers proceed as soon as possible.

Many of the precise implications of this judgment are as yet unclear. We will publish more information as soon as it becomes available.

UK Work Permits is always happy to give free initial advice regarding the viability of visa applications. If you would like to make an application or have any further queries, please contact us.

Special Promotion on fees for ILR Premium Service and Postal applications: Extended until 30/11/2010.

Due to improved premium (“same day”) slot availability and aggressive competition on pricing by some recent entrants to the market, UKWP are continuing to offer promotional rates on our ILR fees until 30th November 2010. Our fees until this date will be as follows:

These fees will apply only in the case of files that are opened on or before 30th November 2010. This means that cases need to have been assessed, and terms and conditions need to have been signed and returned before this date.

We are also able to offer our 110% refund guarantee (subject to a free initial assessment) for our clients’ complete peace of mind.

Special Promotion on fees for ILR Premium Service and Postal applications: Extended until 29/10/2010.

Due to further increases in same day slot availability combined with aggressive competition on pricing by some little-known recent entrants to the market, UKWP are continuing to offer promotional rates on our ILR fees until 28th October 2010. Our fees until this date will be as follows:

These fees will apply only in the case of files that are opened on or before 29th October 2010. This means that cases need to have been assessed, and terms and conditions need to have been signed and returned before this date.

We are also able to offer our 110% refund guarantee for our clients’ complete peace of mind.