Changes in place to help those who need urgent passports get them faster

Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) has had to bring in some changes to account for the fact that an increasing number of people who do not meet the urgent and compassionate criteria will want a passport more quickly as international travel restrictions continue to ease, particularly those with pre-existing bookings.

Essentially, many people have been grounded due to travel restrictions as a response to COVID-19, and now that some restrictions are being lifted, a lot of them will be keen to get travelling.

So what is changing?

So, where a UK-based customer can evidence they are due to travel within the next fortnight, and where HMPO has had their application for longer than 4 weeks for renewal applications, it will expedite their application so that it is delivered within 5 working days.

For adults applying for a passport for the first time, the required security checks mean that the process will take longer than renewals but HMPO have said that their aim is to ensure that anyone with pre-planned travel does not miss out if their passport application has been submitted correctly and in good time.

It is important to remember that the guidance still remains that people should not book travel until they have received their passport.

How about Overseas Applicants?

Overseas applicants who have an urgent need to travel will, as usual, be able to approach the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for an Emergency Travel Document (ETD). Where HMPO has had a passport application for 2 weeks longer than normal service standards, it will invite customers to contact the Home Office to arrange a refund of the cost of the ETD.

HMPO is encouraging everyone who needs to apply to do so online.

Have questions? Contact us today!

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De Facto Adoptions Given Wider Allowances by Home Office

The Home Office has just published its internal guidance to caseworkers on visa applications for children who are adopted or to be adopted in the UK. Noticeably, the guidance has provided much needed clarification on the eligibility of de facto adoptive children coming to the UK and joining the family they have been integrated into, which we see as a major positive move from the government.

What is a de facto adoption?

A de facto adoption is where a child who has been fully integrated into a family but the relationship between the child and the family is not recognised legally due to the fact that the child, or the family, or both, comes from a country where such a legal procedure does not exist or such legalisation is practically not possible.

It essentially ignores the formality, and focuses on the human rights aspect instead.

A de facto adoption may arise where:

adoption orders in the country where the child was adopted are not recognised as valid in the UK

the parents are caring for a child in a country which does not recognise adoption.

despite the country in which they are living being a Hague Convention or designated country, the parents are unable to adopt there because, for example, they are not able to satisfy that country’s particular requirements.

How can a child be allowed into the UK under these circumstances?

The de facto adoption will be regarded as having taken place where the adoptive parent(s) can show they have:

lived abroad for a period of at least 18 months (for applications involving two parents both must have lived abroad together)

lived with and cared for the child for at least the period of 12 months immediately before the application for entry clearance; and

assumed the role of the child’s parent for the full 18-month period mentioned above, and there has been a genuine transfer of parental responsibility.

The guidance provides that the most common use of this provision is likely to involve British citizens working abroad for a period of time in a country whose adoption laws are not recognised by the UK and who have adopted a child from that country during that period, but it may occasionally apply in other circumstances.

The application process

Applications should be made on the online settlement visa application for indefinite leave to enter or limited leave to enter with a view to settlement.

The child can apply for (with the assistance of adults if required):

indefinite leave to enter the UK as the adopted child of a parent or parents present and settled in the UK.

limited leave to enter the UK with a view to settlement as the adopted child of a parent or parents given limited leave to enter or remain in the UK with a view to settlement.

Thoughts

We are pleased that some more attention is being given to the de facto adoption route, as these types of adoptions are more common than one may think. Of course, there are checks that the Home Office will make, such as the financial stability of the family adopting the child, and there will be investigations into the child’s nature, or whether there is any risk associated to the child, but these are all fairly exceptional circumstances. On the whole, this is a very positive and pleasing expansion to the rules.

Moreover, the new rules mean that it would be more important for the parent(s) to prove that they have been looking after the child in a parental way, taking an active role in the child’s upbringing and they plan to continue to do so in the future. The Home Office will look at the evidence of whether the parents are actually exercising their parental responsibilities, rather than what the legal documents states.

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Leave it or Sign it? Simple miscommunications can lead to serious consequences!

Wtitten by Yitong Guo.

BEC Construction Limited v Melt Hythe Limited [2020] EWHC 970 (TCC)

The Fact:

This is a High Court case in TECHNOLOGY & CONSTRUCTION division.

The Defendant Melt Hythe Limited is a company registered in England and Wales. Its registered office is at an address known as Sunnyside, 40 Elwick Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 1NN.

The Defendant had engaged the services of the Claimant, BEC Construction Limited. In or around 15 July 2019, the Claimant terminated the contract and the parties entered into money claim proceedings.

On 9 December 2019 the Judge made order for future case management and service. Accordingly, on 9 December the Claimant took the documents in question to the address, Sunnyside. That address is an address which the Claimant understood to be the principal place of business of the Defendant, that being the address used in the Contract between the parties, and that being the Defendant’s registered address. However, Sunnyside is also the address of a dental practice of which the Defendant is also a director.

The Claimant left the documents at Sunnyside with Miss M, who worked for the dental practice operating from that same address. Mr B, The person who took charge of serving the documents entered the premises, went to the reception desk and then put the documents on the reception desk. Miss M signed for receipt.

The Issue

The Defendant applied to set aside the judgement in default on grounds that the Claimant’s service of the proceedings was invalid.

The Defendant relied on the ground that the Claimant had wrongly effected personal service on the receptionist at Sunnyside rather than delivering to or leaving at a permitted place.

The Decision

In accordance to CPR 7.5, a claim form can be served in various ways, including by ‘leaving the document at the relevant place’. The ‘relevant place’ pursuant to CPR 6.9(2) was the Defendant’s principal office, ie its Kent address. It is also held that personal service was not effected as the document was left on the counter instead of handing in to the receptionist. Therefore the service was valid and the Defendant’s application was dismissed.

Lessons Learned

Where multiple businesses operate out of a multistory building, the serving party needs to take care that they are actually in the ‘relevant place’ to effect valid and defensible service on a defendant—if, for example, a defendant’s address specifies a floor number within an address, every effort should be made to leave the claim form on that floor.

For defendants, a clear lesson is not to conflate personal service with service at a permitted place when challenging the validity of service. Parties in proceedings (especially those sharing premises with other businesses) should ensure that their service address is sufficiently distinguished in order to avoid the risk of being deemed served with a claim form left at the reception of another business. To this end, they should also ensure that any building they occupy with other businesses is appropriately demarcated, and staff are trained to respond appropriately if proceedings are delivered to them.

However in this case, unfortunately for the Defendant, the address had no designation to distinguish it from that of the dental practice.

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BNO visa is open to Hong Kong Citizens from January 2021 – who is eligible and how will it work?

Following the announcement by PM Boris Johnson on 4^th June 2020 that the UK would offer a new route to British citizenship to millions of Hong Kong residents who hold British Nationality Overseas passports (for more information on BNO passports, please click here), the Home Office has officially confirmed that these BNO citizens will be able to apply to come to the UK to work and live from January 2021.

What does the BNO visa offer?

Firstly, people are able to apply for this route from outside or inside the UK. It will allow people to apply to enter or remain in the UK for an initial period of 30 months, extendable by a further 30 months, or a single period of 5 years.

People on the BNO visa will be able to work and study, but they will not be able to access public funds such as social welfare benefits.

Crucially, people on the visa will be able to apply to settle in the UK (also called ‘indefinite leave to remain’) once they have lived here for 5 years. After 12 months with this status they can go on to apply for British citizenship. This will be very appealing to many BNO passport holders and their family members.

Who is eligible and how can they prove it?

According to the Home Office’s policy and guidance which are published today, eligible candidates for this role will need to show the following:

they have BN(O) status – they do not need a valid BN(O) passport to show this and do not need to request a new passport if it’s expired or has been lost

they normally live in Hong Kong or currently reside in the UK

they can accommodate and support themselves financially in the UK for at least 6 months

they show a commitment to learn English, where appropriate

they get a tuberculosis (TB) test certificate from a clinic approved by the Home Office (find more information on this here)

they pay a fee and the immigration health surcharge (fee is yet to be established)

they have no serious criminal convictions, have not otherwise engaged in behaviour which the UK Government deems not conducive to the public good, and not be subject to other general grounds for refusal set out in the Immigration Rules

BN(O) citizens’ immediate family dependants, comprising spouse or partner and children aged under 18, will also be eligible to apply for the Hong Kong BN(O) Visa. They do not need to have BN(O) status themselves to be eligible.

There will be cases where the dependent children of a BN(O) citizen will not normally be eligible because they were born after 1997 (so are not BN(O) citizens) and are over 18 so would not ordinarily be considered as a dependant in the UK’s immigration system.

In compelling and compassionate circumstances, the Home Office will therefore use discretion to grant a visa to the children of a BN(O) citizen who fall into this category and who are still dependent on the BN(O) citizen. This discretion will be limited to children of BN(O) citizens who apply together with their parents as a family unit.

Possibility of entering before the BNO visa route is available

If a person is not eligible to enter the UK under an existing immigration route, Border Force Officers may be able to consider granting ‘Leave Outside the Rules’ at the UK border for a period of 6 months to them and their accompanying dependants.

As a person with ‘Leave Outside the Rules’ the applicant and their dependants can:

work
study

Cannot:

get public funds
use the NHS for free (except for free emergency services)

To be considered, they will need to show:

their identity (through official documentation)

their BN(O) citizen status

that they normally live in Hong Kong

that they can accommodate support themselves financially in the UK

They will also need to show evidence of any non-BNO dependants’ family links to them. A dependant is any of the following:

spouse or civil partner

unmarried partner who they have been living with in a relationship similar to a marriage or civil partnership for at least 2 years

child (under the age of 18 when they first applied)

other family members where they can show there is a high level of dependency

Proving Hong Kong residence

To be eligible for ‘Leave Outside the Rules’ they must usually live in Hong Kong. Evidence of residence may be one of the following:

a Hong Kong identity card

a letter from an employer or education provider confirming your employment or study in Hong Kong

a Hong Kong medical card

a voter’s card

a visa or residence permit or other immigration documents

an educational record, for example a school report

a letter from the local council or a government department in Hong Kong

tax records

records of rent or mortgage payments

Proving you can support yourself financially

People can show this with:

bank statements that show savings

evidence of regular income that will continue whilst in the UK, such as salary, investment or pension payments

investment details

receipt of educational grants from overseas

an offer of employment in UK

income of a partner, spouse or other family member to which you have access, for example parental funding or a spouse’s salary earned through lawful working in the UK

an offer of accommodation from family or friends

Our thoughts

This is clearly a brilliant news to millions of BNO passport holders in Hong Kong (or currently reside in the UK). It provides a new route for them to migrant to the UK. In the meantime, it may effectively reduce the potential pressure of the domestic labour shortage following the Brexit.

Have questions? Contact us today!

In the meantime, we are operating as usual, and you can reach us on 020 7928 0276 or email in to info@lisaslaw.co.uk for any questions you may have on this topic.

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Home Office update: Replacement visas available until the end of the year, with VAC’s now accepting passports

If your 30 day visa to travel to the UK for work, study or to join family has expired, or is about to expire, you can request a replacement visa with revised validity dates free of charge until the end of this year. This does not apply to other types of visas.

This process will be in place until the end of 2020.

To request a replacement visa you can either:

contact the Coronavirus Immigration Help Centre

arrange to return your passport to your Visa Application Centre (VAC) if it has re-opened

Contacting the Coronavirus Immigration Help Centre:

Telephone: 0800 678 1767 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm). It is free to call from within the UK.

If emailing, the address is CIH@homeoffice.gov.uk.

You will need to include your name, nationality, date of birth and your GWF reference number with ‘REPLACEMENT 30 DAY VISA’ in the subject line.

You should be contacted when the VACs reopen to arrange for a replacement visa to be endorsed in your passport. Your replacement visa will be valid for 90 days.

As a new alternative, the Home Office have now said that you can arrange to return your passport to your VAC if it has re-opened.

Do not travel to the VAC with your passport until you have checked the commercial partner websites for the process in place for re-submitting your passport for your replacement visa, as this may vary depending on your geographical location:

TLS contact if you are in Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East

VFS global for all other countries

Read the full guidance here.

Have questions? Contact us today!

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July 21, 2020
Landlords, Litigation, Property, Tenants, Wales

Jarvis v Evans – Unlicensed Landlords and Possession Notice in Wales

Written by Evveline Loh.

The Court of Appeal gave an important judgement on the 7 July 2020. It was held that a notice served under s8 of the Housing Act 1988 by a landlord is a ‘notice to terminate a tenancy’ falls within the scope of s7 (2) (f) of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (H(W)A 2014). The court further confirmed that if a landlord is unlicensed, they cannot serve a notice of seeking possession under Section 8 of the Housing Act 1988 Wales.

The Housing (Wales) Act 2014

Unlike England, the Welsh government took a different approach and created national landlord registration scheme under Part 1 of the H(W)A 2014. The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 (the “H(W)A 2014”) was enacted and it regulates the letting of certain kinds of tenancy and management of such dwellings through a licensing and registration system, s(1) of the H(W)A 2014. Landlords are required to be registered with Rent Smart Wales to rent their properties in Wales. It further requires all landlords who carry out property management activities to be licensed. Agents that manage property are required to be registered and licensed.

Part 1 of the H(W)A 2014 defines ‘domestic tenancies’ as follows:

(a) an assured tenancy for the purposes of the Housing Act 1988 (the “HA 1988”) includes an assured shorthold tenancy);

(b) a regulated tenancy for the purposes of the Rent Act 1977; or

(c) a tenancy under which a dwelling is let as a separate dwelling and which is of a description specified in an order made by the Welsh Ministers under Part 1 of the Act: s2 (1)(a)-(c). (none so far been specified by the Welsh Ministers).

By s7 (2)(f), H(W)A 2014, it is a criminal offence if a landlord of a domestic tenancy in Wales (where exception does not apply) to serve notice to terminate a tenancy unless he is licensed to do so or he appoints a qualified solicitor or an agent.

Background

Mr Jarvis had registered with Rent Smart Wales through a limited company. He rented a house in Pembrokeshire to Mr and Mrs Evans under an assured shorthold tenancy. Mr Jarvis served notice after Mr and Mrs Evans failed to pay their rent. Mr Jarvis served a notice under s8, HA 1988 on the grounds 8, 10 and 11 of schedule 2 of the HA 1988.

At first instance, the judge gave possession to Mr Jarvis but on appeal to the circuit judge, the judgement was overturned on the basis that Section 8 did not permit unlicensed landlord to serve notice.

Issues on Appeal

The Court of Appeal addressed mainly two issues:

Issue 1: Does s 7(2)(f), H(W)A 2014 (‘serving notice to terminate a tenancy’) extend to the service of notice under s8, HA 1988?

Issue 2: If yes, is a notice served in breach of s7, H(W)A 2014 invalid?

Issue 1

The Court of Appeal held that “notice to terminate a tenancy” was drafted wide enough to encompass s8 notice. It would have been meaningless if it was only limited to notices that terminates the tenancy e.g. notice to quit.

Issue 2

The appellant argued that s7, H(W)A 2014 resulted only in criminal liability. It does not affect the validity of a notice served by s8, HA1988 for possession proceedings.

The Court rejected the argument on the basis that the legislation drafted was intended to protect tenants. The penalties and enforcement mechanism drafted will only be exercised by the Court if it was “just and equitable” to do so taking into account whether the landlord is registered or licensed. The argument that s7, H(W)A 2014 states that a landlord had only committed an offence by serving a notice should make the notice invalid was dismissed. The Court states that it would be unjust for a Court to allow a landlord to rely on a notice served to be a valid on if it results to criminal offence.

The Court concluded that s7, H(W)A 2014 prohibits a unlicensed landlord from serving any types of possession notice (including s8, HA 1988 notice). However, this can be easily rectify by appointing an agent or qualified solicitor to serve the notice. In contrast, s44 specifically prohibits the landlord to serve notice under s21, HA 1988 until the landlord has registered and apply for the license. Hence, there is now a distinction between unlicensed landlord who are able to deal with specific issue and for those who would like to obtain the property back by issuing possession order notice.

Thoughts

The England and Wales has taken a very different approached since the enactment of the H(W)A 2014. The legislation acts as a protection for the tenants. Landlords who fail to register or apply for a licence will find themselves facing costly and time consuming legal proceedings. The new judgement means only that landlords in Wales who fails to register or obtain a license will not only be unable to serve s21 notice, but also a s8 notice.

This judgment should be great news to tenants in Wales. Landlords on the other hand should ensure that they meet the requirements under the H(W)A2014 legislation. This would help benefit and improve the standards within the housing private sector.

Have questions? Contact us today!

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Looking after the UK – Health and Care Visa to launch on 4 August

The Home Office have announced a new Health and Care Visa for foreign medical workers which will open for applications on 4 August 2020.

Instead of thinking of this visa as brand new, it is better to think of it as a new pathway within the Tier 2 (General) visa route. Plus, it is vital that applicants know that this visa is not open to all care workers, but rather a very specific list of professionals who the Home Office are looking to attract, who have been trained to a specific standard.

The list is as follows:

Biological scientists and biochemists
Physical Scientists
Medical Practitioners
Psychologists
Pharmacists
Ophthalmic Opticians
Dental practitioners
Medical Radiographers
Podiatrists
Health Professionals not elsewhere classified
Physiotherapists
Occupational Therapists
Speech and Language Therapists
Therapy professionals not elsewhere classified
Nurses
Midwives
Social Workers
Paramedics

So, applicants will need to have a job offer within one of these roles in order to be eligible for the Health and Care Visa.

What are the benefits of this visa?

Lower Visa Application Fees – Check out the before prices, it would probably be less than half of the application fee
- From £610 (or £464 if there is a shortage of workers) for those staying less than 3 years
- From £1220 (or £928 if there is a shortage of workers) for those staying more than 3 years

Exemption of Immigration Health Surcharge – this usually costs £400 per year (or £624/year from 1st October 2020). This means if you work for 3 straight years, you will save up to £1,200 (or even £1,872 from 1st October).

Fast-track Processing Time – you can get your visa within 3 weeks after you have submitted your biometrics at the Visa Application Centre, so the Home Office have said.

Long Stay – you can stay for as long as 5 years and 14 days and get potentially extended up to 6 years.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has said:

“We are indebted to overseas health and care professionals for their tremendous contributions, not just in saving thousands of lives throughout this crisis, but for the vital role they play year-round.

This new visa is part of our new immigration system making it quicker, cheaper and easier for the best and brightest health and care professionals from around the globe to work in our brilliant NHS.”

Have questions? Contact us today!

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July 16, 2020
Law Firm, Solicitor, Team

Congratulations to Rosa Huang for being admitted on the Solicitors Roll!

We are hugely proud of Rosa Huang who has worked extremely hard to pass her Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme and has now been officially admitted on the Solicitors Roll.

Since joining us in near the start of 2020, she has been so professional, dedicated and successful in all of her work and displayed such a vast amount of legal knowledge. She is truly an asset to Lisa’s Law.

We look forward to watching her career flourish even more here at Lisa’s Law, and count ourselves very fortunate to have such a fantastic legal professional in our ranks.

Well done, Rosa!

Have any questions? Contact us today!

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Family Law Focus – The Importance of Consent Orders

When a family finds itself going through tough times, one of the best remedies can be a plan for the future which can help bring clarity to an otherwise murky situation. Even when a family is breaking apart, being certain about how assets are being divided can bring some much needed stability, and provide a base on which to build up from.

What is a consent order?

A consent order is a type of Court order which confirms and approves what the two people have agreed. It explains how they would legally divide up assets such as:

pensions

property

savings

investments

It can also include arrangements for maintenance payments, including child maintenance.

Consent orders are directly enforceable. Should they be breached, the innocent party is entitled to taking enforcement action against such breach. They are a common feature of legal settlements, which is why proper legal representation should be sought when obtaining one.

It is important to bear in mind that a consent order can only be entered into in if both parties ‘consent’ to the agreement. If possible, working together to finalise the consent order is the simplest and least costly way to reach an agreement.

Why are consent orders important?

In our experience, when people are going through a divorce they really crave the independence and freedom available to them when they cross the finish line. Consent orders are a huge part of that and will help the couple achieve a ‘clean break’ from one another. Consent orders ensure that the financial ties between the two of them are clear cut and neither party can make further financial claims on the other in the future unless in exceptional circumstances, such as one party failing to make frank disclosure of his/her properties in the first place.

If due to change of circumstances, one party finds it difficult or unreasonable to continue to comply with the consent order, the right way for the party to do is to apply to vary it. It is always not advisable to simply ignore the consent order.

When to apply for a consent order

Couples can ask the court to approve their draft consent order if they have started the paperwork to divorce or end their civil partnership.

It is usually more straightforward to divide money and property before the application for the final legal document to end the relationship is made.

The final legal document is the:

decree absolute if the couple is divorcing

final order if they are ending a civil partnership

Money and property can be divided after the divorce is finalised or civil partnership has ended. This may change what each person is entitled to get and they may have to pay tax on it.

How to ask the court for approval

The split couple will have to:

draft a consent order

sign the draft consent order – they also need 2 photocopies of the signed original

fill in a statement of information form (this simply helps the court decide if the financial and property arrangements between the two parties are fair.)

One person from the splitting couple will also need to fill in a notice of an application for a financial order (which is standard procedure for financial based proceedings).

Once this has been done, the couple send the completed and signed forms to the court dealing with the divorce paperwork. The couple should also keep copies for their own reference. Also, the fee of £50 must be sent with these papers. Help with this fee is available, sometimes, depending on the financial position of the applicants.

What do we think?

First and foremost, we will always encourage our clients to reach an agreement on their own terms; an amicable solution is always the aim.

We are always here to help couples reach that agreement, should they need the guidance. You will find in us a rock to lean on, and our expert team of family lawyers will take the weight from your shoulders and lead you to a resolution that works for everyone.

Have any questions? Contact us today!

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The Future of UK Immigration is here…But what does it look like?

Home Secretary Priti Patel has revealed the UK’s new points based immigration system and post Brexit visa rules in a document spanning over 130 pages, so we have broken down the key factors for coming to work, study or visit. More detailed articles on the specifics will follow, but this blog will largely cover the basics and give you a good understanding of how the system will work.

Skilled workers

The document specifies that ‘anyone coming to the UK for work, including EU citizens, will need to demonstrate they meet a specific set of requirements for which they will score points. There is no overall cap on the number who can apply for this Skilled Worker route.’

This is not a vastly different system to what we have seen before, and essentially has applicants ‘prove their worth’ to the UK before being granted a working role.

The three main points for this route are as followed:

The applicant must have an offer of a job from a licensed sponsor;

The job must be at or above the minimum skill level: RQF3 level or equivalent (A-level or equivalent qualification). Workers will not need to hold a formal qualification. It is the skill level of the job they will be doing which is important.

The applicant must speak English to an acceptable standard.

Meeting these three requirements will earn the applicant 50 points. They must earn a further 20 ‘tradeable points’ through a combination of points for their salary, a job in a shortage occupation or a relevant PhD.

If the applicant is paid the higher of the general salary threshold of £25,600 or the “going rate” for their particular job, they will get an extra 20 points

Applicants will only be able to score points for having a PhD relevant to the job. Sponsors will need to decide and be able to justify whether an applicant’s PhD is relevant to the job they are sponsoring them for and to advise whether it is a STEM PhD. The list of relevant PhD’s will be updated and altered accordingly.

There are certain exceptions which are possible in terms of salary, for example different minimum salary rules for workers in certain health or education jobs, and for “new entrants” at the start of their career – we will explore these in a later article.

Healthcare workers

The Health and Care Visa is part of the Skilled Worker route. It will ensure individuals working in eligible health occupations with a job offer from the NHS, social care sector or employers and organisations which provide services to the NHS, who have good working English, are incentivised to come to the UK.

Some more good news is that there will be fast-track entry, with reduced application fees and dedicated support regarding the application process, for eligible individuals to come to the UK with their families. Those who are eligible to apply for the Health and Care Visa, and their dependants, will also be exempt from having to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge.

Frontline workers in the health and social care sector who are not eligible for the new Health and Care Visa will pay the Immigration Health Surcharge, but will benefit from a reimbursement scheme. Further detail will follow in due course, we will keep you posted.

Who can apply for this route?

Individuals of all nationalities who have a confirmed job offer, in one of the defined health professions, for a skilled role within the NHS, the social care sector or for NHS commissioned service providers.

Global Talents

A strap-line that the Home Office has banded around recently is that it wants to ‘attract the brightest and best’ talent from around the world. On 20 February 2020 the government launched the Global Talent route, under the current system for non-EU citizens, to improve the UK’s attractiveness to highly skilled individuals with specialist skills.

The Government has announced it will set up a cross-departmental unit called the Office for Talent. This will make it easier for leading global scientists, researchers and innovators to come and live and work in the UK.

The route replaced the old Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) option and aims to attract global leaders, and the leaders of tomorrow in science, humanities, engineering, the arts (including film, fashion design and architecture) and digital technology.

Applicants must be endorsed by a recognised UK body, as approved by the Home Office.

Individuals can apply to one of the following endorsing bodies who will verify their expertise before they can apply for a visa:

The Royal Society, for science and medicine;

The Royal Academy of Engineering, for engineering;

The British Academy, for humanities;

UK Research and Innovation, for science and research;

Tech Nation, for digital technology;

Arts Council England, for arts and culture

This route will be open to both EU and non-EU citizens.

Start up and Innovator

The Start-up and Innovator routes are designed to attract entrepreneurial talent and innovative, scalable business ideas to the UK.

Applicants can be individuals or teams. The Start-up route is for those setting up a business for the first time, who need to work to support themselves while developing their business ideas. The Innovator route is for those with industry experience and at least £50,000 funding, who can dedicate their working time to their business ventures, or those moving from Start-up who are progressing their business.

Each applicant for Start-up and Innovator must have the support of an approved Endorsing Body. Endorsing Bodies are either Higher Education Providers or business organisations who have a track record of supporting UK based entrepreneurs and the support of a Government Department. Endorsing Bodies assess each application to ensure it is innovative, viable and scalable, and are responsible for monitoring the progress of the businesses they endorse.

We will do a focused article on the specifics of this visa route soon.

Coming to study

There will be no limit on the number of international students who can come to the UK to study.

The core requirements of this route will remain: sponsorship at a licensed provider, demonstration of English language ability and the ability of the student to support themselves in the UK.

Students will require a total of 70 points to be granted leave. Points are non-tradeable and will be awarded for meeting the requirements of the route as set out in the table below.

Students with an unconditional offer from a sponsoring institution, who can demonstrate they genuinely intend to study and can meet all the relevant requirements of the route.

Another amendment worth considering is the period of time in which a student can apply for permission to come to the UK before the start of their course is increasing from three to six months.

The government is also removing the study time limit for students studying at a postgraduate level, although students will still be expected to be progressing academically in their studies when making a further application in the UK. Students who meet eligibility requirements will be able to make an in-country application for further leave regardless of their sponsor or level of study.

There are a lot more details about various options for people coming here to study, but we will go into those in a separate article.

Graduate route

The Home Office are launching the Graduate route in Summer 2021 to allow those who have completed a degree at a UK Higher Education Provider, that has a track record of compliance, to stay in the UK for two years (three years for PhD graduates) and work at any skill level, and to switch into work routes if they find a suitable job.

This will be an unsponsored route. All successful applicants will be granted a one-time non-extendable leave period of two years if graduating at undergraduate or masters level, or three years if graduating with a PhD, on this route and will be able to work, or look for work, at any skill level during this period.

Who can apply for this route?

The Graduate route will be open to international students, who have valid leave as a Tier 4 (General) Student or as a Student at the time of application and who have successfully completed a degree at undergraduate level or above at a UK Higher Education Provider with a track record of compliance during that grant of leave.

Applicants must have completed the entirety of their degree in the UK except for permitted study abroad programmes or when distance learning has been necessary due to Covid-19.

The route will not have a maintenance requirement and applicants will not need to demonstrate English language ability as they will already have proved English language ability by successfully completing a degree at a UK university. Applicants will need to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge at the usual rate for the Points-Based System’s routes (this fee will be increased to £624/year from 1^st October 2020). This route will not have recourse to public funds.

Coming to visit

The end of Free Movement will mark the beginning of the UK’s dedication to only allowing what the Home Office deems ‘legitimate travellers who support the economy and enrich society and culture’ in the UK.

Visitors will, on the most part, be able to stay for up to 6 months. A visitor may enter the UK multiple times during that period, but they may not in effect live in the UK by means of repeat or continuous visits. They may not work or access public funds. Currently they may not study for more than 30 days.

There will be a wide range of activities that are seen as legitimate reasons for visiting the UK. As well as general tourism purposes and visiting family, business people can come to the UK for meetings and to negotiate and sign business contracts; leading academics can present their latest research; scientists can share their knowledge with colleagues on international projects. It will be a fairly open style plan in terms of visitation, which is good to see.

A lot more routes

Of course, this articles purpose is to give you the basic outline of coming to work, study or visit the UK. There is a huge amount of other options and ways into the UK, from Sporting Routes to Creative Routes, or even Ancestry options.

We will be doing more in depth articles on specific routes in the coming weeks, and you can always check out the complete guidance yourself here.

Have any questions? Contact us today!

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