UK immigration update: September 2023

Youth Mobility Scheme

The Youth Mobility Scheme is a type of exchange programme for young adults from participating countries, with a duration of a visa for normally up to 2 years.

The recent statement revealed, bilateral arrangements with Australia and Canada have been enhanced - the age range is being expanded from 18-30 to 18-35 and the length of stay is being increased from 2 to 3 years.

Andorra is also being added to the list of countries and territories participating in this route.

Changes to the long residence rules

The rules on long residence would normally recognise the ties a person may form within the UK over a lengthy period – at least 10 years continuous lawful residence.

In April 2023 the definition of 'lawful residence' for the purposes of long residence was changed to exclude time spent on immigration bail, as a visitor, short-term student, or seasonal worker. The rules are being changed to clarify that this exclusion extends to time spent on previous versions of immigration bail (temporary admission and temporary release) and previous visitor, short-term student visa, or seasonal worker routes.

Introduction of Appendix Children

Home Office announced they are introducing a cross-cutting Appendix Children that will include common requirements for both children applying as dependants of a lead applicant, and children applying in their own right. The common requirements for dependent children relate to age, independent life, care, and relationship requirements. A common parental consent requirement will apply where a child is applying for entry clearance or permission to stay in their own right. Although no policy changes have been made to these requirements, the new integration will provide clarity and consistency to the existing rules.

Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)

The UK is launching an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme to strengthen the security of their border.

The scheme is expected to be launched in October 2023 in a phased manner, on a nationality basis and will ultimately apply to all those passengers visiting the UK or transiting through the UK who do not currently need a visa for short stays and do not have any other immigration status before travelling.

It is stated in the present Appendix ETA immigration rules that an ETA may be refused if an applicant has failed to pay charges under relevant NHS regulations on charges to overseas visitors and the outstanding charges have a total value of at least £500. The policy change set by the authorities will remove the NHS debt as a ground for refusal of an ETA application. However, this change is only made as the current ETA application processing systems in use are not capable of processing information on NHS debt quickly enough to deliver an ETA decision at the required speed.

As a guide mark, a successful ETA application does not guarantee that an applicant will be granted permission to enter at the UK border. It is important to understand that travellers seeking permission to enter the UK who have outstanding NHS debts, and who do not take the necessary steps to clear their debts in advance of travel, may be refused entry at the UK border on arrival.

Under the current policy, an applicant who is lawfully resident in Ireland and is travelling to the UK from elsewhere in the Common Travel Area (CTA) does not need to obtain an ETA. This policy change will clarify that the ETA exemption for applicants lawfully resident in Ireland, who are travelling within the Common Travel Area (CTA), will require a person aged 16 or over to demonstrate residency in Ireland, if required by a UK official, in order to benefit from this exemption.

Travellers can use documents including a Permanent Residence Certificate, European Health Insurance Card, Irish driving licence/learner permit, Medical card and GP visit card, National Age card and Irish Residence Permit to demonstrate their residency status.

EU Settlement Scheme updates - A quick look back to some of the most recent changes

The Home Office confirmed on 17^th July that from September 2023 pre-settled status holders will automatically have their status extended by two years before it expires, if they have not obtained settled status. The change will ensure that nobody loses their immigration status if they do not apply to switch from pre-settled to settled status.

The change will reflect in the person’s digital status (UKVI account), under the EU settlement scheme. They will be notified of the extension directly.

The Home Office plans also include introducing the automatic extension of the pre-settled status to settled status to those eligible under the rules. They will be carrying out automatic checks of pre-settled status to stablish the applicant’s ongoing continuous residence in the UK, for example, by checking the migrant’s National Insurance Number history.

New Immigration fees set to come into effect in October 2023

In addition to the many updates we have highlighted, the Home also confirmed on 15^th September 2023 increases to the Immigration and nationality fees. These changes are set to come into effect on 4^th October 2023.

Example of the routes affected are the visitor visa for less than six months that is rising by £15 to £115; The student visa route will rise by £127 to £490, equal to the amount paid for in-country visa applications.

This is to reflect the announcement made in July 2023 where was set a 15% increase in the cost of most work and visit visas, and an increase of at least 20% in the cost of priority visas, study visas and certificates of sponsorship.

A summary of the changes included in:

• Fees for up to 6 months, 2, 5 and 10 year visit visas.
• The majority of fees for entry clearance and certain applications for leave to remain in the UK including those for work and study.
• Fees for indefinite leave to enter and indefinite leave to remain.
• Convention travel document and stateless person’s travel document.
• Health and Care visa.
• Fees in relation to certificates of sponsorship, and confirmation of acceptance for studies.
• The in and out of country fee for the super priority service and the out of country fee for the priority service.  The settlement priority service will reduce so it is aligned with the cost of using the priority service.
• Applications to Register and Naturalise as a British Citizen.
• The fee for the User Pays Visa Application service.

The above list does not include the planned increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge (HIS) which are schedule to be introduced later in the Autumn.

The full policy can be found here.

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