Announcement of changes to Tier 1 requirements

[hopingforchange]

I have heard through various immigration agencies that the Government was intending to make an announcement on 16 March 2010 regarding the MAC recommendations, with changes to be implemented on 6 April 2010. I appreciate that any such comments are speculative and that nothing is certain until the announcement has been made. However, the information seemed to have come through sources at the Home Office, which made it appear somewhat reliable.

As of yet there has been no announcement. What I am wondering is whether anyone knows whether the delay is a bad sign. I could imagine, for example, that with immigration being a highly sensitive election issue the Government might decide not to make the changes. On the other hand, the common thinking on this forum and others seems to be that the MAC recommendations are usually accepted in full. Also, because of the proposed increases to income thresholds, the changes, if implemented, would decrease the number of people qualifying, which would reduce the risk of the Government being accused of opening the floodgates to more immigrants.

Does anyone know whether it's normal for these sorts of announcements to be delayed? I'd feel comforted if that were the case...

Thanks for your help.

[GeneNZ]

I have heard through various immigration agencies that the Government was intending to make an announcement on 16 March 2010 regarding the MAC recommendations, with changes to be implemented on 6 April 2010. I appreciate that any such comments are speculative and that nothing is certain until the announcement has been made. However, the information seemed to have come through sources at the Home Office, which made it appear somewhat reliable.

As of yet there has been no announcement. What I am wondering is whether anyone knows whether the delay is a bad sign. I could imagine, for example, that with immigration being a highly sensitive election issue the Government might decide not to make the changes. On the other hand, the common thinking on this forum and others seems to be that the MAC recommendations are usually accepted in full. Also, because of the proposed increases to income thresholds, the changes, if implemented, would decrease the number of people qualifying, which would reduce the risk of the Government being accused of opening the floodgates to more immigrants.

Does anyone know whether it's normal for these sorts of announcements to be delayed? I'd feel comforted if that were the case...

Thanks for your help.

No one knows anything as yet. There has been commotion about it on this board for the past two weeks, and nothing has been mentioned.

I am one of the ones, waiting with baited breath, for the annoucement.

Curiously, did you get your dates directly from the Home Office, or from another source? On this forum I was told April 6th via a person who tried to make an appointment with the HO after the April 6th and was denied it, on the basis that changes will be coming. I also speculated a March 16th annoucement, merely because March 16th is exactly 3 weeks away from April 6th. Of course this was based on my calculations, and is by no ways official. Just curious to know if you heard this through another source, or from this forum.

One thing I've noticed is the UKBA website newsfeed hasn't been updated for 6 days. This is quite rare. Maybe a conspiracy theory, but maybe something brewing in the background . Heh. Maybe an annoucement today? Taking into account two lost days from the strike on the 8-9th March, then add two days to March 16th to give March 18th? Again, all speculative theories.

[renzokuken]

No one knows anything as yet. There has been commotion about it on this board for the past two weeks, and nothing has been mentioned.

I am one of the ones, waiting with baited breath, for the annoucement.

Curiously, did you get your dates directly from the Home Office, or from another source? On this forum I was told April 6th via a person who tried to make an appointment with the HO after the April 6th and was denied it, on the basis that changes will be coming. I also speculated a March 16th annoucement, merely because March 16th is exactly 3 weeks away from April 6th. Of course this was based on my calculations, and is by no ways official. Just curious to know if you heard this through another source, or from this forum.

One thing I've noticed is the UKBA website newsfeed hasn't been updated for 6 days. This is quite rare. Maybe a conspiracy theory, but maybe something brewing in the background . Heh. Maybe an annoucement today? Taking into account two lost days from the strike on the 8-9th March, then add two days to March 16th to give March 18th? Again, all speculative theories.

Just to add some information (speculation?). I made two more call on different days to Home Office asking this, both officer confirmed that there will be changes on Tier-1 and Tier-2 rules, they also been told that no plan to delay the changes. However, they don't know whether the Government will accept the MAC recommendation in full.

In addition to information above, my company solicitor also gave advise to me that HO has informed them there will be changes on Tier-1 and Tier-2 rules on 6th of April.

But again, as OP mentioned, this situation is unusual (the announcement has not been made until now). So there could be very careful calculation regarding the current political situation. A bombastic partially correct headline in the newspaper mentioning HO lower the requirement for immigrant would be PR disaster for the Government

[hopingforchange]

GeneNZ - my information comes through friends who have spoken to a couple of different immigration agencies. The advisers they spoke to seemed to have been told these dates by their contacts at the Home Office. So while this information doesn't come directly from the Home Office, it does appear to have come initially from there.

I emailed an adviser from a different agency yesterday, who didn't have any specific information but said that the Home Office is often late in meeting its deadlines. In making this post, I was hoping someone could back that up or provide some more information.

Last year the announcement was made on 19 March, with the changes effective from 1 April. It's encouraging that there has been a shorter gap between announcement and implementation than there would be if the changes were announced today or tomorrow.

renzokuken - thanks for that. Helpful to know that others have been told the same thing that I was.

My instinct is that this will change on 6 April. (I hope I'm right!)

[aruni4470]

Announcement made today

http://www.immigrationboards.com/viewtopic.php?t=53705

[renzokuken]

Heh. Maybe an annoucement today? Taking into account two lost days from the strike on the 8-9th March, then add two days to March 16th to give March 18th? Again, all speculative theories.

You are a fortune teller, aren't you?

[hopingforchange]

Hooray!

[GeneNZ]

Heh. Maybe an annoucement today? Taking into account two lost days from the strike on the 8-9th March, then add two days to March 16th to give March 18th? Again, all speculative theories.

You are a fortune teller, aren't you?

Made logical sense . Funny thing is I'm writing this at 3am. I woke up instinctually at 2am, and thought: "maybe check the HO website". There it was .

This is good news for me. Bachelors degrees are now in, and multipliers aren't changing (for the time being). So if I apply on April 6th and 7th, then I use whatever multiplier I had prior to the change. Anyone disagree with these?

[aruni4470]

Heh. Maybe an annoucement today? Taking into account two lost days from the strike on the 8-9th March, then add two days to March 16th to give March 18th? Again, all speculative theories.

You are a fortune teller, aren't you?

Made logical sense . Funny thing is I'm writing this at 3am. I woke up instinctually at 2am, and thought: "maybe check the HO website". There it was .

This is good news for me. Bachelors degrees are now in, and multipliers aren't changing (for the time being). So if I apply on April 6th and 7th, then I use whatever multiplier I had prior to the change. Anyone disagree with these?

They specifically said that the review of multipliers would not be complete by 6th April. So, you should be fine.