0. UK Immigration Rules Changes 2016/2017
21 April 2016
Beenu Rudki, Director

1. Agenda Introduction to changes to the Tier 2 skilled visa category
Summary of Tier 2 skilled visa category changes – Autumn 2016
Impact on Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (ICT) applications in accordance with Autumn changes
Summary of Tier 2 skilled visa category changes – April 2017
Impact on Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (ICT) applications – April 2017
Additional changes
Other recent changes
UK Immigration

2. Introduction to changes to the Tier 2 skilled visa category
The UK Government has announced details of how it will implement the Migration Advisory Committee’s (“MAC’s”) recommendations on changes to the Tier 2 skilled visa category.
One of the most significant changes is the introduction of a minimum salary threshold of £41,500 for the vast majority of Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) visa applications from April There are also changes to the Tier 2 (General) minimum salary amounts and phased closing of the Skills Transfer and Short Term visa categories.
The majority of these changes will be introduces in April 2017, with
some transitional changes occurring in
Autumn 2016.
UK Immigration

3. UK Immigration Rules changes – Autumn 2016
Increase the Tier 2 (General) threshold to £25,000 for experienced workers, maintaining the minimum threshold of £20,800 for new entrants;
Increase the salary threshold to £30,000 for the Tier 2 (ICT) Short Term category;
Reduce the salary requirement for the Tier 2 (Graduate Training) category from £24,800 to £23,000 and increase the number of places available to companies from 5 to 20 per year;
Close the Tier 2 (ICT) Skills Transfer category to new applications;
Weight overseas graduates more heavily in the Tier 2 (General) monthly allocation rounds;
Remove the exemption for the Tier 2 (ICT) category paying the Immigration Health Surcharge;
Enable graduates to switch roles once they secure a permanent job;
Introduce exemptions from the increased Tier 2 (General) experienced threshold for nurses, medical radiographers, paramedics and secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and Mandarin. The exemption will end in July 2019.
UK Immigration

4. Impact on Tier 2 (General) applications – Autumn 2016
Policy Change
Employers will need to ensure that the sponsored migrants are paid at the new minimum threshold (except new entrants) taking into the account the Standard Occupational Code for the role
The Home Office will weight overseas graduates more heavily in the Tier 2 (General) limit and enable gradates to switch roles within a company once they have secured a permanent role at the end of their training programme
Those roles will be exempt from a Residence Labour Market Test and new salary threshold until July 2019 (except nurses where prospective employers will need to carry out a Resident Labour Market Test before recruiting a non-EEA nurse).
Increase the Tier 2 (General) minimum threshold to £25,000 for experienced workers, maintaining the minimum threshold of £20,800 for new entrants.
Weight overseas graduates more heavily in the Tier 2 (General) monthly allocation rounds.
Introduce exemptions from the increased Tier 2 (General) experienced threshold for nurses, medical radiographers, paramedics and secondary school teachers in mathematics, physics, chemistry, computer science and Mandarin. The exemption will end in July 2019.
UK Immigration

5. Impact on Tier 2 (ICT) applications – Autumn 2016
Policy Change
Increase the minimum salary threshold to £30,000 for the Tier 2 (ICT) Short Term Category (current £24,800).
Reduce the salary requirement for the Tier 2 (Graduate Trainee) category from £24,800 to £23,000 and increase the number of places available to companies from 5 to 20 per year.
Close to Tier 2 (ICT) Skills Transfer category to new applications.
Remove the exemption for the Tier 2 (ICT) category paying the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Employers will need to ensure that the sponsored migrants are paid at the new minimum threshold
This policy change will allow employers to have more opportunity to sponsor graduates who are coming to the UK as part of a structured graduate training programme with progression towards a managerial or specialist role within the organisation.
Applicants will be required to qualify under the Tier 2 ICT Short Term or Long Term routes (except graduate trainees) with a minimum salary threshold of £30,000 or £41,500 respectively
Impact will be a monetary increase per application.
UK Immigration

6. UK Immigration Rules changes – April 2017
Increase the Tier 2 (General) threshold to £30,000 for experienced workers;
Close the Tier 2 (ICT) Short Term category to new applications;
Reduce the high-earners’ salary for Long-Term ICTs from £155,300 to £120,000;
Remove the one year experience requirement in the Long-Term category where the applicant is earning over £73,900;
Introduce a waiver for the Resident Labour Market Test and prioritise Tier 2 (General) places where the visa grant(s); are in support of the relocation of a high-value business to the UK or, potentially, an inward investment project;
Implement any recommendations as a result of the review of allowances under the Tier 2 (ICT) categories
Introduce the Immigration Skills Charge;
UK Immigration

7. Impact on Tier 2 (General) applications – April 2017
Policy Change
Impact
Increase the Tier 2 (General) threshold to £30,000 for experienced workers.
All the applicants will be required to be paid at the minimum threshold of £30,000 (further increase of £5,000 since Autumn 2016 changes)
Introduce a waiver for the Resident Labour Market Test and prioritise Tier 2 (General) places where the visa grant(s) are in support of the relocation of a high-value business to the UK or, potentially an inward investment project.
This policy would have an impact on the annual allocation as these types of applications maybe be pushed up the list for Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship requests and put ahead of other requests in a particular month.
It is not clear at present the definition of “high-value business” and “inward investment project”
UK Immigration

8. Impact on Tier 2 (ICT) applications – April 2017
Policy Change
Impact
Close the Tier 2 (ICT) Short Term category to new applications.
All migrants coming to the UK under the ICT route will be required to apply under the ICT Long Term route and be paid at the minimum threshold of £41,500 (except graduate trainees). This could result in an increase of applications made under the Tier 2 (General) category
Reduce the high-earners’ salary for Long-Term ICTs from £155,300 to £120,000.
More migrants will be able to fall under this category as the salary requirement is being reduced
Remove the one year experience requirement in the Long-Term category where the applicant is earning over £73,900.
This would allow the employers to mobilise staff without having to demonstrate that they had previous employment for 12 months as per current requirements.
Implement any recommendations as a result of the review of allowances under the Tier 2 (ICT) categories.
The MAC report stated in essence a Tier 2 migrant has tax exemptions whereby the employer can pay lower National Insurance contributions in comparison to a resident worker and this in turns means that the Net pay for a Tier 2 migrant worker is higher than a resident worker. The MAC has recommended that this is reviewed by the Home Office potentially in conjunction with HMRC. This is a tax implication and at present it is not clear what recommendations would be implemented.
The impact of permitted allowances being reduced or heavier scrutiny by the Home Office would mean that the salary packages where it is already comprised of mainly allowances may not meet the requirements and in turn the employer not being able to move a particular individual to the UK.
UK Immigration

9. Additional changes
The Immigration Skills Charge will be levied on Tier 2 employers at a rate of £1000 per person per year from April 2017 (reduced rate will apply to small and charitable sponsors, PhD roles, Tier 2 (Intra-company Transfer) Graduate Trainees, and Tier 4 to Tier 2 switchers will be exempt). For example: Tier 2 (General) application in- country for 3 years at present the Government fees come to a total of £1463 and after April 2017 this would increase to £4463;
The transitional arrangements for workers sponsored at NQF levels 3 and 4 will be closed over the next two years;
The Immigration Rules for work categories will be simplified, making them easier for sponsors and applicants to understand.
UK Immigration

10. Tier 2: Recent Updates
Changes to the Immigration Rules and visa application fees to take effect in March and April 2016
Practical operation of the annual Restricted Certificate of Sponsorship limits (the monthly allocation will be adjusted in favour of employer to allow a greater number of certificates to be granted toward the start of the financial year);
English language requirement which will require to obtain certificate of equivalency from UK NARIC when relying on overseas degree that was taught in English;
The Points Based System calculator is no longer able to be used in support of the applications.  
UK Immigration

11. Other Changes as of April 2016
Changes to the funds which applicants will be relaying on for highly skilled visa categories (Tier 1 of the Points Based System);
Qualifying criteria for endorsement in relation to the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent);
A new general discretionary ground of refusal for applicants who owe a litigation debt to the Home Office, court and tribunals;
Reduce of the threshold for NHS debt;
Changes to fees for all UK immigration and nationality applications from March 2016
Example: Fee for making ILR application has increased from £1500 to £1875, thus making it an increase of £375
UK Immigration

12. Speaker CV Background Professional Experience Skills Beenu Rudki
Director
Direct Tel:
Background
Beenu is a Director with Ernst & Young Global Immigration Practice based in London and Reading.
She leads the UK Corporate Immigration Practice in Reading and across accounts in London, as well as leading the high net worth immigration practice for private client work.
She is qualified to Level 2 OISC and is a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association.
Skills
Strong background in immigration compliance with a comprehensive understanding of the immigration rules. She advises on corporate immigration matters, working with multinational organisations in the engineering, oil and gas, automotive, healthcare, hospitality, information technology, telecoms, legal, financial and banking sectors.
Her skills extend to advising on the intricacies of settlement and family applications and EEA and nationality cases.
She has a thorough knowledge of the investor visa evidential requirements and rules of investment into UK portfolios consisting of UK equities or government bonds, and the application of the genuineness test associated with the entrepreneur visa.
Professional Experience
Beenu has a strong background in immigration compliance with a comprehensive understanding of the immigration rules.
She takes part in Home Office consultations on proposed changes to the Immigration rules in the UK and maintains excellent relationships with UK Visas & Immigration and Migration Policy.
She regularly speaks at seminar and events on UK Immigration.

13. Thank you
Any questions?