5 New Visa Changes South Africans Need to Know About Before Heading to the UK
UK immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, recently made a number of surprising announcements as the country prepares to make visa reforms.
Below, Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants broke down some of the most important changes and what they will mean for South Africans.
Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa to be replaced by innovator route
The current Tier 1 Entrepreneur route will be replaced by a new Innovator route, for more experienced business persons.
It will have a “similar emphasis on endorsement by a business sponsor, who will assess applicants’ business ideas for their innovation, viability and scalability”.
“We subsequently encourage applicants who still want to apply under the current Tier 1 Entrepreneur route, to contact us without delay,” Breytenbachs said.
New start-up visa route
Earlier in 2018, the UK Government announced that it will establish a new Start-up visa route. This route will build on the Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur route.
Applicants under this new route will have to be endorsed by either a business or higher education institution sponsor.
No clarity on Tier 1 investor route
The UK Government announced on 6 December 2018 that the Tier 1 Investor route is suspended.
It added this route will from 7 December 2018 no longer be open for applicants to apply, and that new rules will be put in place sometime during 2019.
However, the Home Office has since released an official statement to the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) stating the following:
“The Tier 1 (Investor) visa is not currently suspended. However, the Government remains committed to reforming the route. A further announcement will be made in due course.
“Any suspension would be implemented through changes to the Immigration rules.”
Tier 1 exceptional talent extended to architects
The Tier 1 Exceptional Talent route will be expanded to provide for the inclusion of leading architects.
These architects will have to be endorsed by the Royal Institute of British Architects, under the remit of the Arts Council England.
Tier 5 religious and charity workers
Tier 5 Religious Workers and Tier 5 Charity Workers will in future have a cooling off period.
This cooling off period will prevent them from returning to the UK for 12 months, on another Tier 5 visa. This step is taken to underpin the fact that this is a temporary route.
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Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], [2].
