Immigrating to the UK

Lol at the Tories saying they’d introduce a cap and lower net migration. THEY caused this!

Complete morons. The same bloody question will always be asked of them: “So why did you not do this then?!”

I’m interested to see what the new rules will be. Anything to lower net migration and keep the system fair is a good direction. Cutting care visas, another good step. That route has been so badly abused.

On the family visa though; I wonder if they will lower the MIR — but I doubt it. At best I think they’ll leave it unchanged at £29k. Which is reasonable I think.
 
System is being abused to bits, it's so commonplace even the old lady I stayed at for a while told me how they've met nurses who were brought in by companies, and had their passports taken/kept 'safe' by said companies - this is purely conjecture but I believe it, the lady worked a lot with frail care facilities etc. So they can't leave and they probably get crap pay while the company makes money. Seems highly illegal
 
System is being abused to bits, it's so commonplace even the old lady I stayed at for a while told me how they've met nurses who were brought in by companies, and had their passports taken/kept 'safe' by said companies - this is purely conjecture but I believe it, the lady worked a lot with frail care facilities etc. So they can't leave and they probably get crap pay while the company makes money. Seems highly illegal

Still on a lot of Saffa UK FB groups from back when we first moved here. Loads of posts about the changes, and so many comments on how it’s actually a good thing. One of the commenters said their frail mother had two carers from Africa who would just sit there with blankets over them ignoring the her all day, talking in their own language, etc. It’s always just been an easy way to get over here and bring the whole family over. You didn’t even have to know how to do the job.
 
Still on a lot of Saffa UK FB groups from back when we first moved here. Loads of posts about the changes, and so many comments on how it’s actually a good thing. One of the commenters said their frail mother had two carers from Africa who would just sit there with blankets over them ignoring the her all day, talking in their own language, etc. It’s always just been an easy way to get over here and bring the whole family over. You didn’t even have to know how to do the job.

So they make it really hard for skilled workers (who you sort of want to some degree) all the meanwhile these 'carers' just waltz in, sounds fair :D
 
Anyone watch the PM's speech a few mins ago on the White Paper?

What I got out of that:

- Rules tightening across all routes
- Higher English standard across all routes - including dependents
- 10 years now instead of 5 to ILR
- Care visas scrapped

Hoping this won't affect @AstroTurf too much.
 
I would hope this is for new visas only, cause holy ****
Also, hopefully not the case for spouse/settlement visas!

*edit
I wonder what this means:
"The new system will end automatic settlement and citizenship for anyone living here for five years.

Instead, migrants must spend a decade in the UK before applying to stay unless they can show a real and lasting contribution to the economy and society. "

What's a real and lasting contribution?
 
I would hope this is for new visas only, cause holy ****

It would be for new visas. Whenever new rules are introduced, it is always applied to new visas after April of the following year - or October.

An example of this was when the MIR was raised for family visas; anyone who applied or had a visa before April 2024 - were subjected to old MIR - anyone applying after - new MIR.

Also, hopefully not the case for spouse/settlement visas!

I'd be surprised if it is not applied to all routes - with exception for the highly skilled with degrees (Like the Grad visa where it's 3 years to ILR and not 5)
 
It would be for new visas. Whenever new rules are introduced, it is always applied to new visas after April of the following year - or October.

An example of this was when the MIR was raised for family visas; anyone who applied or had a visa before April 2024 - were subjected to old MIR - anyone applying after - new MIR.
Applying for ILR isn't linked to visas though. It's a different process. So I'd imagine that the fair thing to do would be to apply it to people who first arrive in the UK after the law is changed... - I hope.
 
So they make it really hard for skilled workers (who you sort of want to some degree) all the meanwhile these 'carers' just waltz in, sounds fair :D

Carers were just one small part of it, but along with student visas, probably the most easily abused. SWV accounted for the ridiculous amount of immigration we had over the last 3 years. They were handing out visas like candy because companies were in charge of issuing CoS, not the government.
 
Applying for ILR isn't linked to visas though. It's a different process. So I'd imagine that the fair thing to do would be to apply it to people who first arrive in the UK after the law is changed... - I hope.

Well, you can only apply for ILR after being on a visa of some sort for 5 years (or 10 in some cases, currently)

And yes,. it would apply to new visas - not current ones. Extending my example from the family route and the MIR change that was made. People who applied for their "extension" on the family route, who had their first visa before the rules changed, are still subjected to the older MIR rules and not the new ones.

The rules used for all visas. through to settlement are "locked in" from the first visa you are granted.
 
Applying for ILR isn't linked to visas though. It's a different process. So I'd imagine that the fair thing to do would be to apply it to people who first arrive in the UK after the law is changed... - I hope.

Yea this needs to be clarified. I hope this is the way it works as well cause otherwise we are pretty much fscked.
 
Yea this needs to be clarified. I hope this is the way it works as well cause otherwise we are pretty much fscked.

It is the way it works. No need to worry about that. We will be on the 5 year route to ILR / Citizenship. Because we follow the rules set out at the time our visa was granted.

This same principle applies with laws - new laws are not applied retrospectively as that is not fair and opens up so many issues. Same goes for immigration law.
 
@Priapus is right, everything in the UK is always before or after rules. Almost every page of a process has a "if before <date> this applies" or "after this <date> this applies
 
Carers were just one small part of it, but along with student visas, probably the most easily abused. SWV accounted for the ridiculous amount of immigration we had over the last 3 years. They were handing out visas like candy because companies were in charge of issuing CoS, not the government.

Carer/Healthcare falls under SWV which makes up the biggest part of it (this is from 2023):

1747038585954.png

Looking at the 2024 data they are also responsible for bringing in the most dependents, crazy!

1747038805636.png
 
Wow. That's a big change.

No doubt the fees will go up as well.

It's huge. It would mean any CoS issued won't get you even close to IRL, unless they update CoS to be valid for 10 years as well?

I think the maximum is 5 years currently.
 
When it was changed in 2006 from 4 to 5 years for ILR, it applied to everyone, not just new applicants.

20. The change in the rules, however, was not merelyprospective in effect: it applied also to people already in thecountry with leave as a highly skilled migrant. As a result, manypeople on the HSMP who had expected to be able to settle in theUK after four years were suddenly unable to do so. Instead ofapplying for permanent residence, they had to apply instead fora further extension of their limited leave to remain. Limitedleave to remain carries many disadvantages compared to settledstatus, making it more difficult to obtain jobs, visas to travel,and important financial services such as mortgages. The extensionof the qualifying period therefore caused considerable hardshipfor many of those individuals, including disruption to careers,family separation and financial loss. The matter was the subjectof an Early Day Motion signed by 59 Members[11]and was raised in a Westminster Hall debate on 2 November 2006.[12]

The changes to the Immigration Rules
 
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