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To access the data sheet on the Portugal (GRP) program results as of 29th January 2016, please click here.

The Home Office has published its response to two reviews of Tier 2 policy, undertaken by the Migration Advisory Committee.

The government has announced its response to two reviews of Tier 2 policy by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).

Tier 2 is the main immigration route for non-EEA nationals to apply to work in the UK. The proposed changes are balanced to ensure that employers are incentivised to up-skill and train resident workers, whilst making sure they can continue to access migrant workers when needed.

The main changes include:

• Tier 2 (General) salary thresholds for experienced workers will be increased to £25,000 in autumn 2016, and £30,000 in April 2017. However, some health and education professionals will be exempt from the higher threshold until July 2019. The minimum threshold of £20,800 for new entrants will be maintained
• Tier 4 students switching to a Tier 2 visa will not be subject to a limit on numbers and their sponsor will not have to carry out a Resident Labour Market Test
• nurses will remain on the Shortage Occupation List, but sponsors will need to carry out a Resident Labour Market Test before recruiting a non-EEA nurse
• the current intra-company transfer provisions are being simplified by requiring all intra-company transferees to qualify under a single visa category with a minimum salary threshold of £41,500, with the exception of the graduate trainees
• the Immigration Skills Charge will be levied on Tier 2 employers at a rate of £1,000 per person per year from April 2017, with a rate of £364 for smaller businesses and charities, and an exemption for PhD occupations, Tier 2 (Intra-Company Transfer) Graduate Trainees and Tier 4 students switching to Tier 2
• the Immigration Rules for work categories will be simplified, making them easier for sponsors and applicants to understand and use

The changes will come into effect in two stages (autumn 2016 and April 2017) to ensure that businesses have time to prepare.

Further detail is available in the written ministerial statement.

Extending the Super Priority Visa Service to Astana is another example of how the UK is leading the world in the provision of premium visa services for those coming to the UK to visit or work.

The new service, which costs £750 in addition to the visa and User Pays fee, is aimed at those who want extra speed and flexibility. It is completely optional. The service can be used to apply for long term, multi-entry visas, valid for up to ten years, and also for long term study and work visas.

Welcoming the introduction of the Super Priority Visa Service, the Prime Minister said:

As part of our long-term economic plan, we are determined to do everything we can to back business, support investment and create jobs. The new 24 hour visa service will persuade more business travellers, investors and tourists to visit Britain, to trade with Britain and to expand in Britain.

This is good news for British business and tourism, helping us to build a more resilient economy and secure a brighter future for Britain.

Dr Carolyn Browne, UK Ambassador to Kazakhstan said:

Last year UKVI issued over 15 thousands UK visas for Kazakhstani citizens. I’m sure that this new service, in addition to the existing services which include both routine and priority visa tracks, will contribute to a further increase in Kazakhstanis choosing to visit the UK. The premium service which we are launching at this very special time – the Nauryz festival – is another step in strengthening our bilateral relationship and people-to-people links.

 

For further information please click here

Poll shows ‘overwhelming support’ for granting nationals reciprocal rights to live and work freely in each other’s countries.

A new poll has found “overwhelming support” within Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom for granting nationals reciprocal rights to live and work freely in each other’s countries, as new immigration policies shortly to take effect in the UK have the opposite effect.

The Royal Commonwealth Society’s survey showed that most people are in support of removing barriers to live and work in the four countries, with support among New Zealanders as high as 82%. Some 75% of Canadians, 70% of Australians and 58% of Britons are also in favour.

Support has skyrocketed among young adults aged between 18 and 35, with 90% of New Zealanders and 80% of Australians in favour.

Tim Hewish, author of the report and director of policy and research at the Royal Commonwealth Society, said there was clearly “immense support” from Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders for the freedom to live and work in the UK.

“Collectively we possess a unique bond which needs protecting. We share a language, a legal system, and a Queen.”

Lord Howell of Guildford, the president of the Royal Commonwealth Society, said governments must work “to ensure as much free mobility as is workable”.

“This polling is invaluable as it shows the views and wishes of these fellow Commonwealth friends in strong support of closer ties. Governments must find ways to build them and to remove the obstacles that stand in their way.”

The poll is the latest in a series sparked by the call made by London mayor Boris Johnson on his visit to Australia in 2013 for a “free labour mobility zone” between the two countries.

But since then the number of Commonwealth nationals working in the UK has fallen significantly due to a crackdown on migration from outside the European Union, with a new tranche of immigration policies about to take effect.

From 6 April, all skilled workers from outside the EU who have been in the UK for less than 10 years will need to earn at least £35,000 a year in order to qualify for a Tier 2 visa and settle there permanently.

Australians and New Zealanders in the UK for six months or more will also be required to pay an annual surcharge of £200 (A$380 and NZ$426) to access some health services.

Australians and New Zealanders were previously exempt from the Immigration Health Surcharge, but Britain’s immigration minister, James Brokenshire, said in a statement in February it was “only fair” that they contribute to the National Health Service.

Migration specialists have reported a spike in the number of Australians based in Britain now looking to return home, though the changes have been publicised since 2011.

The governments of both Australia and New Zealand have criticised the changes. New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, said extending the NHS surcharge to New Zealanders in the UK was “pretty cheap and not really in keeping with the history of the two countries”.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade report obtained by News Corp in Australia warned that the “discriminatory” changes would make the UK “a less welcoming destination” and potentially put formal relations between the two countries at risk.

The Royal Commonwealth Society survey bolstered a November 2015 survey of 1,687 Britons with polling of 1,000 people in both New Zealand and Canada and 1,247 Australians in late January 2016.

Questions asked of Australians and New Zealanders took into account the free labour mobility already afforded between those two countries by the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement.

An additional question found that more Britons favoured free mobility with Canada, Australia and New Zealand than with countries in the European Union.

 

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/

17 February 2016 – New York, NY

Klasko Immigration Law Partners is pleased to announce that it has been chosen to be the North American Regional Representative Office of the Investment Migration Council (IMC). The IMC will now have regional representative offices in Hong Kong, London and NYC.

The IMC is the only global, non-profit organization associated with investment-related migration. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the worldwide association for investor immigration and citizenship by investment brings together the leading stakeholders in the field and gives the industry a voice. The IMC sets the standards on a global level and interacts with other professional associations, government and international organizations on issues related to investment migration. The IMC helps to improve public understanding of the issues faced by clients and governments in this area and promotes education and high professional standards among its members.

Klasko Immigration Law Partners Chairman Ronald Klasko stated “We are honored and feel very privileged to be the IMC’s representative for North America.  The US has one of the most active investment migration programs in the world, the EB-5 Visa program. Our firm has been advising thousands of investors since the inception of the program and therefore is uniquely positioned to be of great assistance to the Council and its membership.  We look forward to expanding our representation of high net worth individuals seeking citizenship by investment in many countries throughout the world.  In so doing, we will contribute our experience and expertise to the IMC membership; and our clients will benefit from the shared knowledge and best practices provided by the IMC.”

IMC CEO Bruno L’ecuyer, added “We are delighted to have Ron Klasko heading our North American office. Thanks to his wealth of knowledge and expertise, we are confident that our strong synergies will allow us to reach our objectives in setting the global standards, promoting professional development and high ethical standards among our members, as well as, bridging the gap between Academics, Government & Professionals”

 

About Klasko Immigration Law Partners

Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP has offices in Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago and has been selected as one of the top 5 business immigration law firms in the United States by the prestigious Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Chambers and Partners) for the past ten years. The Firm is consistently rated in the top tier of immigration law firms by U.S. News and World Report and Chambers Global.  Our lawyers have also been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and as top EB-5 lawyers by EB5 Investors Magazine.

The Firm’s 24-member EB-5 Team is one of the largest and most respected EB-5 practices in the world.  It is led by H. Ronald Klasko who served 4 terms as Chair of the EB-5 Committee of AILA and as Chair of the Best Practices Committee of IIUSA.  He is globally recognized as a leader among EB-5 lawyers. The firm’s EB-5 Blog is considered a “must read” for cutting edge EB-5 information, and its website serves as one of the most expansive and trusted sources on EB-5 law.

 

For more information, please see www.klaskolaw.com  or www.eb5immigration.com.

To access the data sheet on the Portugal (GRP) program results for the month of January 2016, please click here

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pitch to convince the world’s richest that Canada is a good place to invest came too late for a pilot program intended to lure 60 millionaire immigrants to Canada in an effort to give the economy a boost, CBC News has learned.

“There has never been a better time to look to Canada,” Trudeau said this week before a crowd of the world’s business elite at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

• ANALYSIS | Trudeau ministers hope Davos speed dating builds relationships
• 60 millionaire immigrant investors to be offered permanent residency

The Immigrant Investor Venture Capital program, a revamped version of a program critics once denounced as “cash for citizenship,” was launched last January by the former Conservative government following a commitment it made in the 2014 budget.

The one-year pilot was meant to attract rich immigrants willing to make a non-guaranteed investment of $2 million up front to be held for 15 years in a fund managed principally by BDC Capital, the investment arm of the Business Development Bank of Canada, in return for permanent residency. Applicants also had to prove they had even more money in the bank.

But a year after it was launched, the pilot program has yielded just seven applications from potential international investors and no permanent resident visas.

“The demand for this pilot program has been low,” said Nancy Caron a spokeswoman with the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in an email to CBC News this week.

Dashed expectations

The previous Conservative government thought it would result in hundreds of applications from rich immigrant investors.

“The program will be open for applications from Jan. 28 to Feb. 11, 2015, or until a maximum of 500 applications are received,” the previous government announced around this time last year.

‘We are reviewing options to determine next steps, but no decisions have been made yet. We want to ensure our immigration system grows the economy and also focuses on family reunification.’– John McCallum, minister of immigration

A year later, Canada is still waiting to welcome its first new millionaire immigrant investor.

“A total of seven applications are in process,” said the departmental spokeswoman this week, adding that as of Dec. 30, 2015, four applications had passed a first-stage review and three had passed a second-stage review and were “in process.”

Only when an application reaches the second-stage is it then given a “pass or fail,” Caron explained.

With all seven applications still in process, “No permanent resident visas have yet been issued under this program,” she said.

‘A blank cheque’

The previous Conservative government tightened up the rules under the new pilot after acknowledging that immigrant investors under the old “ineffective” program were not likely to stay in Canada over the long term and contributed “relatively little” to the Canadian economy.

While the Conservatives were hoping to have better luck with this program than they did under the former Immigrant Investor Program, Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer and policy analyst based in Vancouver, said the pilot was “broken” from the get-go.

“Canada was asking prospective immigrants to write a blank cheque and hope that 15 years down the road they would see any return on that investment,” Kurland said in a phone interview with CBC News.

“It’s no surprise to see that the wealthy immigrant investor crowd would look at other immigration possibilities to come to this country in order to grow our economy, create jobs and find a secure place for their own families.”

The first sign of trouble came two weeks after the program was launched, when the deadline to apply was immediately extended from Feb.13 to April 15, 2015.

But with demand still low, the federal government reopened it a month later saying it continued “to test the demand” of the pilot.

“The Immigrant Investor Venture Capital Pilot Program will greatly benefit the Canadian economy by attracting immigrant investors with strong business skills,” said then-immigration minister Chris Alexander in a press release.

“Keeping program standards high will ensure that Canadians continue to benefit from our immigration programs …and we warmly welcome anyone who wants to apply.”

In the end, the program remained opened for the entire second half of the year, starting on May 25 until it closed on Dec. 30, 2015.

Kurland said this is an opportunity for the new Liberal government to retool the fund.

“With a fresh turn of the page nationally, politically, it’s time to focus on a re-design of Canada’s immigrant investor fund.”

According to Kurland, Immigration Minister John McCallum’s “strong background in finance” will make it easier for the government to make some changes to the program.

McCallum worked as a chief economist at one of Canada’s big five banks and a professor of economics before he entered politics.

‘Reviewing options’

But the minister isn’t yet saying what changes he might consider.

In a written statement sent to CBC News Friday morning, McCallum said, “We are reviewing options to determine next steps, but no decisions have been made yet.”

“We want to ensure our immigration system grows the economy and also focuses on family reunification.”

Reached by phone in Calgary, Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel said the point of a pilot program is “to see what works and what the uptake is.”

“Our broader policy was looking at ways to hit our economic immigration targets… and our broader consultations supported that,” Rempel said in a phone interview with CBC News Friday afternoon.

“I want the government to consult Canadians prior to posting their immigration levels report,” she said with the House of Commons set to resume next week.

That annual report lays out how many immigrants Canada will accept under each of the immigration streams for the year head.

It was to be released in the fall but was delayed because of the general election.

 

Source: CBC

To access the data sheet on the Golden Residence Programme (ARI),  please click here

The government set out its proposed changes to the fees for visas, immigration and nationality applications and associated premium services for 2016–17.

Specific fee changes for 2016–17 will apply after further legislation is laid in Parliament by April this year.

The new legislation will set maximum levels on the amounts for broad categories of fees that can be charged by the Home Office over the next 4 years. There are no current plans to raise fees to the maximum levels.

These increases will allow us to reduce taxpayer contributions towards the border, immigration and citizenship system and ensure that by 2019–2020 the system is self funded by those who use it.

The main changes are:

• small increases (2%) for visit, study and work visas
• fees for settlement, residence and nationality will increase by 25% in 2016–17
• targeted increases have been applied to premium services, such as the priority visa service

 

Fees for all sponsorship categories will stay at the current rates.

 

The new fees for applications can be found in the fees table.

 

You can read more about additional changes in the Fees Order

 

From:UK Visas and Immigration