Securing your settled status is a milestone to celebrate so UK immigration solicitors are urging those thinking about applying for settled status and those with pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to understand the rules on absences and the EU Settlement Scheme to avoid you losing your right to settled status.

There is a lot of information available if you are an EEA national considering applying for pre-settled status or settled statusunder the EU Settlement Scheme but UK immigration solicitors are receiving enquiries from non-EEA and EEA partners of EU nationals asking about their right to stay in the UK after Brexit and the end of the transition period on the 31 December 2020.

Whilst all business owners are heartedly sick of hearing and reading about Brexit the reality is that with the end of free movement many small and medium UK businesses are having to take business immigration law advice for the first time. In this article head of business immigration, Hans Sok Appadu, looks at business immigration for SMEs and those wanting to come to the UK to set up a business.

The British prime minister, Boris Johnston, may have given a warm welcome to those with British national (overseas) status looking to apply for entry clearance to the UK on the new Hong Kong visa but the Chinese government response to the Hong Kong visa has heightened the concerns of those with British national (overseas) status. In this blog our immigration solicitors look at the Hong Kong visa introduced on the 31 January 2021.  

Immigration solicitors are some of the first to say that the eligibility criteria for the skilled worker visa are confusing for employers, particularly the minimum salary threshold. That’s because the minimum salary threshold to qualify for the skilled worker visa is based on a published minimum annual income or a percentage figure for the going rate for the job, whichever is the higher. In this blog we look at the concept of the ‘going rate’ for the job.

If your business has had its sponsor licence revoked or knows that it is at risk of getting its sponsor licence revoked it is time to take specialist legal advice from sponsor licence and immigration solicitors on your best course of action.

Does your business need to hire workers? With the UK skills shortage would you normally hire from overseas? If your workers, whether they are joining a UK construction, tech or digital firm or other industry sector, are from the EU then the immigration rules have changed. If your business is still getting to grips with the immigration rule changes it isn’t surprising as this year has been very tough with the global pandemic and the financial fall-out of lockdowns and the COVID-19 tier system.

With the elderly concerned about going into residential care accommodation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic the immigration lawyers at OTS Solicitors are receiving enquiries about whether family members can get a visa to come to the UK to look after their relatives. In this blog we look at your options if you would like a family member to apply for a visa to come to the UK to look after you.

UK immigration solicitors 

It is often said that when one door closes another door opens. In the case of Donald Trump, as he says goodbye to the presidency of the USA and to the White House, could something novel happen? In this blog we look at whether Donald Trump could become a British citizen. After all, we know that the UK has some excellent golf courses and that Donald Trump is known for doing the unexpected.

The third national lockdown in the UK and devastating COVID-19 statistics has really emphasised the need for migrants to come to the UK to fill health care vacancies. In this article our immigration solicitors look at work visas and the health and care worker visa and eligibility criteria. 

With the end of free movement and the introduction of the new UK points based immigration system immigration solicitors are receiving enquiries about the frontier work permit. In this blog we look at the new frontier work permit scheme.

2020 was a year like no other. Who would have thought that travel to and from and within the UK would be so disrupted with families being forced to live apart from one another, whether as a result of social distancing, tiers and lockdowns within the UK, or through international travel restrictions resulting in people being absent from the UK for far longer than they’d planned.

Even those who plan to come to work in the UK and already speak English fluently fear the visa eligibility criteria and the English language requirement. That isn’t surprising as everyone fears the unknown and there are lots of uncertainties surrounding the end of free movement and the introduction of the new UK points based immigration system.

 Sponsor licence solicitors say to business owners applying for their first Home Office sponsor licence to recruit overseas workers that half the battle to securing your sponsor licence is to ensure that your business has the right paperwork to support your application.

Many UK businesses are in the position of having to apply for their first Home Office issued sponsor licence to enable them to recruit overseas workers on skilled worker visas, including EU nationals who will be subject to UK immigration control after the end of free movement on the 31 December 2020.

From the 1 December 2020 UK employers can start to recruit non-EEA workers on the new skilled worker visa to start their employment as soon as their visa applications are processed. Furthermore, UK employers can recruit EU workers on skilled worker visas with the visas operative from the 1 January 2021 (as prior to the 31 December 2020 EU citizens can enter the UK to live and work without needing a work visa under the principle of free movement).

With the introduction of the new points based immigration system those looking to come to the UK for work are asking the question ‘do I qualify for a skilled worker visa?’ Likewise employers are asking whether they will be able to recruit workers from non-EEA or EU countries after the end of free movement on the 31 December 2020 and the introduction of the points based immigration system. In this article we answer some of your questions on the skilled worker visa.

Many of those in the construction industry campaigned against Brexit as they were concerned about the impact of the end of free movement on the import and supply of construction material and on the availability of skilled European construction workers. The UK construction industry, and particularly so in London, relies heavily on its European workforce.

After 11 pm on the 31 December 2020 EU nationals arriving to live and work in the UK will be subject to immigration controls. Immigration solicitors say that means that if you are an EU national who didn’t meet the 31 December 2020 deadline to move to the UK for work purposes then you will need a work visa to work in the UK.  That’s because with the end of free movement EU nationals and non-EEA nationals will be treated in the same way under UK Immigration Rules.