Recent Immigration Changes - Points to Note for Employers
There have been a number of recent immigration law developments which have the potential to affect employers, as well as travellers more generally.
Colombia, Guyana and Peru Removed from the List of 'Visa Nationals'
For the purposes of visiting the UK, the UK's Immigration Rules divides the world into two: visa nationals - countries whose citizens must apply for visas before visiting the UK; and non-visa nationals - countries whose citizens can visit the UK without the need for a visit visa before departure. From 9 November 2022, citizens of Colombia, Guyana and Peru will now be considered non-visa nationals. According to the Home Office, this change has been made because the "risk of immigration abuse and criminality from these countries has consistently fallen in the last five years. Additionally, there are significant potential rewards for granting these nationalities non-visa national status, such as improved trade, diplomatic relations, and tourism."
UK businesses with connections to those countries are likely to be interested in this development as it will now be much easier for colleagues, clients and suppliers from those countries to visit the UK. That said, it is really important that visitors and the businesses they are visiting still ensure compliance with the Immigration Rules governing visits to the UK. A visitor's proposed activities in the UK must fall within a list of permitted activities.
High Potential Individual Visas - Global Universities List 2022
On 20 May 2022, the new High Protentional Individual (HPI) visa route was introduced as a short-term work visa option for individuals at an early career stage, and who are likely to have the potential to benefit the UK workforce. For further information on HPI visas more generally please refer to our previous article on this new route.
To qualify for the visa an individual needs to have graduated from a university which features on the Government's 'Global Universities List' - comprising highly rated international universities featuring in the top 50 lists of at least two respected international rankings tables. Applicants must have graduated from a qualifying university in the last five years in a year when their university met those ranking criteria, so lists for each of the past five years have been compiled.
UK Visas and Immigration have now published the list for 2022 covering graduates from listed universities awarded their degrees between 1 November 2021 and 31 October 2022. The list is largely unchanged from previous years and once again is dominated by US universities (21 of the 40 universities who make the list) with no universities from Africa, South America or southern Asia featuring. Universities appearing on the list for the first time this year are the University of Queensland and Zhejiang University, while University of Munich (LMU Munich) falls off the list having made its solitary appearance on the 2021 list.
To hear more about these and other recent immigration law developments, our upcoming employment webinar on Wednesday 16 November 2022 will be an immigration update. The session will be hosted by VWV immigration partners Tom Brett Young and Nishil Patel.