Major immigration system reforms on the cards

[geriatrix]

The Home Secretary said: 'The government intends to control immigration by focusing on all aspects of the immigration system, not just the points based system. So over the coming months action will be taken on students, families and settlement as well as people coming here to work.'

Among her priorities are:
- encouraging more entrepreneurs and investors to come to Britain
- putting a stop to abuse of the student route
- cutting the link between those who come here temporarily and permanent settlement

........
She added: 'Work in Britain for a short period should not give someone the right to settle in Britain. Studying a course in Britain should not give someone the right to settle in Britain.'

..........
She said: 'It will take hard work and a great deal of political courage. But the British people want us to do it and it is the right thing to do. So we will do it.'

regards

[manutd666]

Interesting.
As I cannot see a CAP on students visa ( they make lot of money from that category: huge tuition fees especially they will be raised from 2012 for home students, no recourse to public funds , cannot work more than 20 hours a week etc..) , it sounds like, time spent in the UK on student visa will not count towards IRL or citizenship. Furthermore it sounds like (IMO) students will not be able to switch to another category while being in the UK. So basically, if someone is granted student visa let say for 3 years, they will be expecting that person to study for 3 years, paying tuition fees (probably over 12k a year from 2012) as well as being able to live in the UK without relying on part time job.
As for the work visa it does sound like being on work visa for 5 years is considered to be short period to be able to apply for IRL, I guess they will increase the number of years, doesn’t surprise me if it’s doubled to be honest.

Regards.

[jager]

Full text of speech

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/media-cent ... ion-speech

[geriatrix]

The Home Secretary has outlined the government's approach to reform of the settlement rules, including a decision not to pursue the 'earned citizenship' policy.

Earned citizenship concerned the path to settlement and British citizenship, and was planned to come into force in July 2011. It will now not be introduced.

Outlining the government's approach to settlement reforms, the Home Secretary said:

'It is too easy, at the moment, to move from temporary residence to permanent settlement.

'We will not implement Labour's policy of earned citizenship, which was too complicated, bureaucratic and, in the end, ineffective.

'If people enter this country saying that they will only stay here temporarily, then it is obvious that they should only stay here temporarily.

'Working in Britain for a short period should not give someone the right to settle in Britain. Studying a course in Britain should not give someone the right to settle in Britain.'

We will make further announcements in due course. In the interim, the current rules and requirements for obtaining settlement and citizenship will remain in place.

regards

[littlerice]

Whatever they are coming up with, how long would it take to go through parliament and come into force?

[indian234]

I believe ILR rules will remain same for whole of 2011......but government might anounce new rules in 2011 which may come into affect from 2012 or after.....fingers crossed.

[mulderpf]

Whatever they are coming up with, how long would it take to go through parliament and come into force?

Parliament would generally need to be given 21 days notice, however, this isn't always the case. For example, statement of change HC 439 was presented to parliament on 18 March this year and came into effect on 6 April.

[littlerice]

Parliament would generally need to be given 21 days notice, however, this isn't always the case. For example, statement of change HC 439 was presented to parliament on 18 March this year and came into effect on 6 April.

Shouldn't the new rule, whatever that might be, be a Bill or something, that requires a vote in the parliament?

[littlerice]

And another question, this new law that supposed to come into force July 2011 was made into law back in July 2009, why do they have to wait 2 years?

[need_a_tier1]

" those who come to work here temporarily" sounds like Tier-2 ICT to me.

[littlerice]

I thought Tier2-ICT applied after april 6 2010 already lost the right to settlement.

[wunder]

Any idea whether this will affect existing ILR holders who are going to apply for citizenship?
And if the whole things needs to be approved by parliament - would it be stopped if Lib Dems rebel against it?

[wunder]

" those who come to work here temporarily" sounds like Tier-2 ICT to me.

I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but the term temporarily may as well be applied to entire Tiers 1 and 2 - as holders of these come to UK under time limited (temporary) permits.

[Casa]

I agree but I doubt whether this will apply to those already here.

[sunny1407]

Any opinion if this whole thing can in any way affect people waiting to apply for ILR (end of next year) under the HSMP judicial review?

[NumbersGame]

" those who come to work here temporarily" sounds like Tier-2 ICT to me.

I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but the term temporarily may as well be applied to entire Tiers 1 and 2 - as holders of these come to UK under time limited (temporary) permits.

I was thinking the same thing.

I had a closer look at the UKBA's tier1 site, there is no mention of the immigration which was implied in HSMP.

Most immigration law changes are not retrospective, such as the change to tier1 general which did not impact existing holders of the visa.

However if tier1 is purely for work then it's not protected from any proposed/future ILR changes.

[littlerice]

On this page, http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/settl ... tiontypes/ you can see that all these different type of visa can lead to settlement (PR), and that's called legitimate expectation.

[dr_raihan29]

I don't knowif i should treat this news as good or bad, I was granted hsmp in oct 2006 so was covered by JR for PR in 2011, but I guess this new declaration changes everything again.............. only if I can spend 11 more months till they decide to change the rules again!

[JulesN19]

Shouldn't the new rule, whatever that might be, be a Bill or something, that requires a vote in the parliament?

The Immigration Rules are delegated legislation. So long as the rules are not inconsistent with any statute and Parliament chooses not to intervene to stop the proposed changes, the Home Secretary can basically do what she wants with the Immigration Rules.

Ordinary principles of judicial review would, however, apply to any decision made by a minister. Those already here on Tier 1 or Tier 2 visas arguably have a strong and legitimate expectation to be granted settlement after five years and the precedent of the judicial review claim over the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme would apply. For this reason, I expect that any minister wishing to avoid having her department lose in court will provide for transitional arrangements for those already here.

And another question, this new law that supposed to come into force July 2011 was made into law back in July 2009, why do they have to wait 2 years?

The "earned citizenship" provisions of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 are set to come into force on such date as the Home Secretary orders. The last government said that it intended to issue an order to bring the relevant sections into force in July 2011, but had not yet issued an order before losing the election. As the new government is now opposed to bringing "earned citizenship" into force, we can now be reasonably certain that it will not issue a commencement order.

[littlerice]

The "earned citizenship" provisions of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 are set to come into force on such date as the Home Secretary orders. The last government said that it intended to issue an order to bring the relevant sections into force in July 2011, but had not yet issued an order before losing the election. As the new government is now opposed to bringing "earned citizenship" into force, we can now be reasonably certain that it will not issue a commencement order.

Thanks for the reply, but what I don't understand was, around July 2009 when the bill was made into law, why would they decide to wait for 2 years, not bring it into force straight away.

[JulesN19]

Thanks for the reply, but what I don't understand was, around July 2009 when the bill was made into law, why would they decide to wait for 2 years, not bring it into force straight away.

The "earned citizenship" provisions of the 2009 Act required delegated legislation to be implemented. For example, the residence requirement for naturalisation was to depend on whether someone met the "activity condition" that would be defined in regulations enacted by the Home Office. Additionally, changes would be required to the Immigration Rules to provide for the category of "probationary citizenship" as the visa status that follows limited leave to remain.

Delegated legislation needed to implement the new statute was being developed and a consultation was held in late 2009 on proposals to have a point-based system for meeting the activity condition. Under that proposal, points would have been earned from such possible sources as volunteering for a charity, having high earnings potential, or living in parts of the UK that receive relatively few immigrants (such as Scotland).

It is quite common for Acts of Parliament to allow government ministers to set the dates on which statutes come into force. There are various statutory provisions that sit on the statute book for ages without being activated. Parliament included provisions in the Administration of Justice Act 1982 to give effect under UK law to the Convention Providing a Uniform Law on the Form of an International Will, but the relevant sections are still not yet in force 28 years later.

[avjones]

There are various statutory provisions that sit on the statute book for ages without being activated. Parliament included provisions in the Administration of Justice Act 1982 to give effect under UK law to the Convention Providing a Uniform Law on the Form of an International Will, but the relevant sections are still not yet in force 28 years later.

There's also the Easter Act 1928 - passed in 1928, still not in force (and no plans to bring in into force, either).

The Act would, if I remember rightly, fix Easter as the second Sunday in April.

[need_a_tier1]

A good suggestion to Ms May would be to allow the immigrants who will have no route to settle in the UK NOT to pay any National Insurance contributions as they will anyway not have access to any of these funds if they lose the job or reach the end of their 'stint' in the UK.

And yes, the government can make clear that such immigrants (or the immigration category) will not have access to 'contributions based jobseeker's allowance' and they have only 'right to temporarily work in the UK'.

The government should also look at making the private medical insurance cover a must to avoid saying that 'your NI contribution contributes to the NHS'.

[wunder]

Private medical insurance in UK does not replace the NHS - so there won't be any way around NI.

[need_a_tier1]

Private medical insurance in UK does not replace the NHS - so there won't be any way around NI.

It can be made to replace the NHS, atleast for some specific immigration categories. AFAIK at present one can make private GP appointments which can be paid by private medical insurance (if its pre-approved by the insurance company) - and yes this will help reduce the alleged burden on the NHS and the Daily Mail.

This gist is - stop the temporary immigrants to contribute to public services if the government has no plans to give them access to these services at any stage.

One would happily pay medical insurance cover premiums and any excess involved rather than the extortionate amount that goes out from the paycheck every month.