The UK Border Agency has today announced an overhaul to the Tier 1 General visa programme. The changes to the Points Based System will take effect in April 2010.

Tier 1 of the Points Based System (PBS) will come into effect at the end of June 2008 for applicants from all over the world.

Tier 1 General visa applicants relying on professional qualifications that were issued overseas will no longer have their qualifications assessed by NARIC.

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The UK High Court has decided that the recent changes to the HSMP which affected applicants who wanted to remain in the UK under the scheme but did not qualify under the new changes were illegal.
The highly skilled migrant program which was introduced in 2002 operates on a points based scheme which enables non EU [...]

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Approximately 30,000 Indians are claiming they suffered unfair discrimination by the British government.
Many are questioning whether Gordon Brown will be able to improve relations with India while his government, ’subjects Indian nationals to abuse and treats them so poorly’. The scathing remarks made by Highly Skilled Migrant representatives, of which 90 percent are claiming they are [...]

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The recent changes to HSMP have been quite controversial. The shadow immigration minister, along with the Race Equality Watchdog and HSMP Forum have led calls for the suspension of the new HSMP rules, until there has been an opportunity for the legality of the changes to be verified.
The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) allows skilled migrants [...]

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There will be a judicial review conducted of the Home Office?s contentious new immigration policy which will take place as intended on 14 and 15 June 2007.
The High Court will make a decision on whether it was within the Home Office’s rights to introduce immigration rules that applied in retrospect to migrants who were already [...]

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There may be some respite for professionals who came to the UK holding HSMP visas and are now facing deportation as a result of the strict new rules which were published by the British government in November 2006.
Fortunately, the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal upheld that the right to family life in Britain under [...]

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Following the announcement of the new HSMP rules, as amended on 7 November 2006, a number of vague areas have caused applicants concern. Most of the concerns focus around HSMP earnings points, and the exact documentation that needs to be submitted with an application in order to ensure approval.
The UK Border Agency has clarified a [...]

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More than 30,000 Indian migrants who arrived in the UK under the HSMP programme have written to the Indian president objecting to changes to the scheme to be applied retrospectively.
The changes will take effect in November adn will impact those who are over the 28 year age gap and earning less than 30,000 pounds a [...]