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.

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/

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!

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

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.”

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.

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.

• 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