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Benefits that count as Public funds as per UKBA guidelines

 Naturalisation as a British citizen, Permanent Residence, Settlement, Tier 2 General Visas, Tier 4 General, UK Visas General, UKBA Points Based System  Comments Off
Feb 282012
 

We are regularly asked about what counts as public funds and what does not; therefore we thought its better to write the details for easy reference of everyone:

The following paragraphs explain which benefits are considered public funds under the Immigration Rules.

Section 115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 sets out which benefits cannot be legally claimed by people who are subject to immigration control. When an applicant receives one of these benefits, they are in breach of the act.

Immigration Rules

Paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules defines what benefits are consider as public funds for the purpose of any consideration of the Immigration Rules and it is this which determines whether they have breached their conditions by claiming them.

The following benefits count as public funds:

  • Attendance allowance
  • Carers allowance
  • Child benefit
  • Child tax credit
  • Council tax benefit
  • Disability living allowance
  • Housing and homelessness assistance
  • Housing benefit
  • Income-based jobseeker’s allowance
  • Income related employment & support allowance – ESA (IR)
  • Income support
  • Severe disablement allowance
  • Social fund payment
  • State pension credit
  • Working tax credit.

If there is evidence to show that an applicant has received these public funds when they are not entitled to do so, their application will be refused unless they are subject to an exception.

Exceptions

There are occasions when people who are subject to immigration control can claim benefits without it being classed as breaching their conditions. In these cases the fact that they have claimed public funds will not affect their application for leave.

Child and Working Tax Credits

Child and Working Tax Credits were included in section 115 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 on 1 April 2003, but were not added to the definition of public funds in paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules until 15 March 2005. This means that applicants who received either of these tax credits between 1 April 2003 and 15 March 2005, have not breached their conditions of leave. However UKBA will notify HMRC that tax credits were claimed.

Benefits that do not count as public funds

Benefits that are not considered as public funds under the Immigration Rules include:

  • Contribution based jobseeker’s allowance
  • Guardian’s allowance
  • Incapacity benefit
  • Contributory related employment and support allowance – ESA(C)
  • Maternity allowance
  • Retirement pension
  • Statutory maternity pay
  • Widow’s benefit and bereavement benefit.

Please note that the above is not an exhaustive list and UKBA may change its rules from time to time. UK Visa Works is providing the above as general information only based on current UKBA guide lines and can not be held responsible for any loss, damage, or inconvenience caused to any person as a result of any inaccuracy or error contained in this information. Visitors who rely on this information do so at their own risk.

 Posted by at 4:00 pm  Tagged with: ,

All leave to remain applications for more than 6 months in UK will need Biometric residence permits from 29th Feb, 2012

 Permanent Residence, UK Visas General  Comments Off
Feb 172012
 

UK Biometric Residence PermitUK Border Agency has anoounced that from Wednesday 29 February, all applicants in the UK will need to obtain a biometric residence permit if they are applying to stay for more than 6 months. This includes applicants for permission to settle here (known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’).

To obtain a permit, applicants will need to enrol their biometric information (fingerprints and facial image).

If you are applying in the UK on or after this date (whether applying by post, in person or online), you should use the correct application form. Please pay careful attention to the date shown on the cover of the application form.

If you are applying in person at one of the public enquiry offices using premium service, and you have booked an appointment on or after 29 February, you must take the correct application form with you to avoid any delays.

 Posted by at 8:23 am  Tagged with:

UKBA published list of financial institutions whose statements wont be accepted for meeting the maintenance requirements

 Tier 4 General  Comments Off
Oct 252011
 

UKBA Border Agency has published a list of those financial institutions from India, Pakistan and Philippines whose financial statements won’t be accepted for meeting the maintenance requirements under the Tier 4 General visas.

The biggest number of unapproved financial institutions by UKBA for maintenance purposes under Tier 4 is from India and their details could be found at this link:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/studying/financial-institutions/india/financial-not-accepted.pdf?view=Binary

For further details please visit: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/studying/financial-institutions/

 Posted by at 8:11 am  Tagged with:

Finding employers in UK that employ migrant workers

 Tier 2 General Visas, UKBA Points Based System  Comments Off
Jul 182011
 

We regularly are asked if we could help in finding jobs in UK with Tier 2 work visas for people who are not EEA nationals and need a work visa in order to work legally in UK. Please have a look at the following document:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/employersandsponsors/pointsbasedsystem/pbsregisterofsponsors

This document lists all the companies in UK who employ people from overseas, go through the list and see what companies might need people with your back ground, for example if you were a Media Consultant then you could do a quick search for Media in the company name, we found aardvark media limited , then we did a google search for this company name and found their website and on their website we found that they are currently looking for Marketing and PR Executive (Part-Time) http://www.aardvarkmedia.co.uk/marketing.html .

The above is just an example to get you started, its not going to be easy and will need time, effort and consistency on your part to keep on looking and if you look hard enough you will find some company which has a job for which you are totally suitable and therefore they could sponsor your Tier 2 work visa.

Please share your views, suggestions and comments!

 Posted by at 12:50 pm  Tagged with: ,

Non-EU workers migrants on temporary visas may no longer be eligible for permanent settlement

 Permanent Residence, Settlement  Comments Off
Jun 102011
 

The government has launched a public consultation on reforms to the work routes leading to settlement on 9th June, 2011. Under the new proposals Non-EU workers migrants on temporary work visas such as Tier 2 General or work permits may no longer be eligible for permanent settlement after 5 years of continuous stay.

Plans are also set out by the immigration minister to re-classify visas as either ‘temporary’ or ‘permanent’ and introduce stricter criteria for those who want to stay.

The public consultation will close on 9th Sept, 2011.

For further details and commenting on the consultation please visit: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/media-centre/news/settlement-consultation

Please share your views on our facebook page as well: http://www.facebook.com/ukvisaworks

 Posted by at 1:56 pm

Immigration appeals fees to be introduced

 UK Visas General  Comments Off
May 182011
 

From October 2011 fees will be charged for lodging appeals in the immigration tribunal according to the Ministry of Justice.

Initially the fees are to be set at £80 for paper hearings and £140 for oral hearings, however its likely that they may increase later on.

No fees will however be charged in the Upper Tribunal, although this may change later as well.

A discretionary power is to be given to Immigration Judges to award the cost of the appeal fee against UKBA:

“The policy intention behind this is that costs would only be awarded, up to the level of the appeal fee, where the decision should clearly have been made in favour of the appellant in the first place on the information presented by the applicant at the time of the initial decision. We would not expect a cost award to be made in cases where an individual introduced new evidence at appeal or otherwise contributed to the need for an appeal by his/her actions.”

 Posted by at 11:45 am

Senior Care Workers most likely to be removed from shortage occupation list

 Tier 2 General Visas, UKBA Points Based System  Comments Off
Mar 042011
 

According to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) latest recommendations sent to government on 3rd March, 2011, Senior Skilled Care Worker (SOC 6115)  job shall be removed from the UK shortage occupation list.

This follows the MAC’s recommendation last month that 71 occupations be removed from the list of occupations that qualify for Tier 2 of the points-based system. This is to meet the government’s objective of raising the skill level of Tier 2 to National Qualifications Framework level 4 and above (NQF4+).

To bring the shortage occupation list into line with the rest of Tier 2 the MAC has recommended removing job titles including high integrity pipe welder, skilled meat boner and skilled meat trimmer and skilled senior care worker. The latter recommendation will not, however, affect care home managers and nurses working in care homes as these occupations are level NQF4+.

Some job titles are recommended for amendment. The MAC found that only a small proportion of chefs are skilled to NQF4+. Chef jobs on the list are, therefore, recommended to be restricted to those requiring a minimum of 5 years relevant experience and paying at least £28,260 per year.

Chair of the MAC, Professor David Metcalf, said:

‘Placing limits on migration requires that we are far more selective and ensure only highly skilled migrant workers can come to work in the UK.

‘For instance, only the top 5% of chef jobs will be open to Tier 2 workers under these recommendations as a result of a more stringent earnings threshold.’

The MAC estimates these recommendations, if accepted, will mean Tier 2 applicants coming into the country via the shortage occupation route will only be eligible for approximately 230,000 jobs (less than 1 per cent of the labour market), down from 1 million jobs when the MAC produced its first shortage occupation list in 2008. The combined impact of these recommendations plus those made by the MAC last month will be that the proportion of jobs in the UK labour market at a skill level eligible for Tier 2 will fall from 56% to 39%.

The government will respond before 6 April 2011 to the MAC’s recommendations.

 

 Posted by at 4:17 pm

UK Government’s new policy on English language requirements for foreign spouses and civil partners suffers a major setback

 UK Visas General  Comments Off
Mar 032011
 

The Government’s new policy of insisting that spouses and civil partners of foreign nationals must be able to speak English suffered a major setback after a ruling by the High Court on 1st March 2011.

Mr Justice Beatson sitting at the Birmingham Administrative Court on 1st March 2011 granted permission to apply for Judicial Review to three Claimants. They had each sought to have their spouses join them in this country. They are nationals of Pakistan, Yemen and India. They do not speak, read or write English. They had contended that a new amendment to the Immigration Rules which was brought in very recently was discriminatory as the change of rules applied only to certain countries and not for example to Canada or Australia or the European Union. The Claimants had also asserted that the Government’s Rule meant that their Article 8 family life and other human rights were breached contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

In a landmark judgement, Mr Justice Beatson has granted permission to apply for Judicial Review to each of the Claimants after a contested hearing today. The case if some significance. The Government had contended that the English language requirement was for good reasons stating that, “The new rules will help promote the economic well-being of the UK, for example by encouraging integration and protecting public services. It will also assist in removing cultural barriers, broaden opportunities for migrants and help to ensure that they are equipped to play a full part in British life” The statistics presented to the Court showed that this would affect many thousands of potential immigrants to the United Kingdom. Many believe that this was an attempt to reduce the numbers seeking entry from outside the EU and from outside of the USA, Canada and Australia. If that was the Government’s attempts then it leaves its policy in disarray and will mean yet another question mark over the Government’s commitment to seeing a reduction in the numbers of immigrants that will be granted entry to the United Kingdom.

The Court has listed the cases for a substantive Judicial Review hearing over two days on 18th and 19th July 2011.

Please share your views about this policy.

 Posted by at 11:33 am  Tagged with:

UK Visa fees likely to rise again!

 UK Visas General  Comments Off
Mar 012011
 

Immigration Minister Damian Green has issued a Written Ministerial Statement that proposes to increase immigration and nationality application fees for all those applying to study, visit, work or stay in the UK.
The new fee levels will apply to most visa types and this time the employers and educational institutions with sponsor licences are also going to be effected to some extent.
The most notable proposed changes in the fee levels are:

  • Short term student fees proposed to double from £70 to £140
  • Tier 1 Post Study (out of country) fees proposed to rise from £344 to £474
  • ILR fee for postal application for dependants to rise from £250 to £486

Tier 2 visa pplication fee for in country applicants is proposed to be set at £550 from £500 and for their dependants to £275 from the current level of £150.

For detailed proposed fee levels please visit:
UK visas proposed fee levels

 Posted by at 1:44 pm  Tagged with:
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