Temporary Concession: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Related Research:

From 01 January 2022, the Home Office Guidance on a temporary concession to the Immigration Rules, which was introduced as part of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) endorsed funder route, is no longer in operation, as the concession ended on 31 December 2021.

Iceland and India join the Youth Mobility Scheme

Home Office Guidance on considering applications under the Youth Mobility Scheme category has been updated to reflect Iceland and India join the scheme from 1 January 2022. The UK’s Youth Mobility Scheme is a visa route which allows young people from a select group of countries aged 18 to 30 to live and work in the UK for up to 2 years without requiring sponsorship. The countries previously participating in this scheme included Australia, Canada, Monaco, New Zealand, San Marino, Iceland, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. New updates also brings Clarification on the documents that Icelandic and San Marino nationals must submit. Further guidance will be published once the first India ballot is ready to launch.

You can access the guidance here

Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice for UK visa applicants and temporary UK residents

The Home Office updated its guidance, ‘If you’re applying for a Global Talent visa’ section to advise that if you received an endorsement from a Global Talent endorsing body and you have not been able to apply for a visa within the 3-month deadline due to COVID-19 related reasons, you may still be eligible.

You can read the full guidance here

Workers and Temporary Workers: Guidance for Sponsors: Sponsor a Seasonal Worker

Guidance updated to add a concession for ornamental horticulture workers to access this immigration route. The concession starts from 1 January 2022, allowing sponsors licenced under this route to sponsor workers undertaking specified roles across the horticulture sector – specifically adding roles in ornamental horticulture. The Immigration Rules will be updated at the earliest opportunity to place this change on a substantive footing.

Only workers at farms growing the following can use this concession:

• bulbs and cut flowers, such as daffodils, grown outdoors and indoors
• pot plants, such as seasonal bedding plants like pansies, violas, germaniums and poinsettias
• hardy ornamental nursery stock such as Christmas trees, shrubs, roses, ornamental trees and perennials
• tree and forest nurseries

You can read the full guidance here

Afghan citizens resettlement scheme

The Home Office has announced further details of the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme. The UK formally opened the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) on 6 January 2022. The scheme will prioritise:

• those who have assisted the UK efforts in Afghanistan and stood up for values such as democracy, women’s rights, freedom of speech, and rule of law
• vulnerable people, including women and girls at risk, and members of minority groups at risk (including ethnic and religious minorities and LGBT+)

The government will resettle more than 5,000 people in the first year and up to 20,000 over the coming years. We will work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify those we should help.

This is in addition to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme, which has already settled thousands of Afghans who have worked with the UK government, and their families. The ARAP is a separate scheme to the ACRS and offers Afghan nationals who have worked for or alongside the UK government, and meet the ARAP criteria, relocation in the UK.

You can read more on this here

Coronavirus (COVID-19): advice for UK visa applicants and temporary UK residents

On 7 January, the Home Office updated the above guidance.

In the chapter on ‘If you’re applying to enter the UK or remain on the basis of family or private life’, updated the ‘If you’re unable to provide specified documents’ section to extend the deadline to 31 March 2022.

On 13 January, the concession allowing applications to be made at any VAC if home country’s VAC is closed has been extended to 31 March.

Further updates announced on 28 January, amending ‘If you’re in the UK’ section, updating exceptional assurance visa or leave expiry date to 31 March 2022. Removed section covering ‘If you are in the UK but your Entry Clearance was not activated due to COVID-19 restrictions’ as the concession is no longer available.

You can access the full guidance here

Employer right to work checks supporting guidance

On 17 January 2022, the Home Office added a new Annex F (Annex F: Digital identity verification – Guidance) for employers and Identity Service Providers (IDSPs) to its “employer right to work checks supporting guidance” which contains guidance for employers carrying out right to work checks on British and Irish citizens from 6 April 2022 using Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT).

You can read the full guidance here

Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules:  HC 1019, 24 January 2022

Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules published on 24 January 2022. The changes being made add care workers to the Shortage Occupation List, and make the role eligible for the Skilled Worker route, disapplying the usual requirement that a role must be skilled to at least Regulated Qualification Framework (RQF) level 3.

This means social care workers can get Skilled Worker visas from 15 February 2022. The change will make it easier for employers to sponsor foreign national care workers and will reduce application costs.

You can read the full statement here

Concessions to the Immigration Rules for Afghan nationals for work and study routes

The Home Office has published new guidance for Afghan citizens who are already in the UK on study and work routes. The guidance tells you about the concessions made to the Immigration Rules for Afghan nationals who either had entered the UK prior to 1 September 2021 or had made an entry clearance application prior to that date and subsequently arrive in the UK. These concessions also apply to their dependants.

This guidance applies to all decisions made from 14 January 2022.

You can read the full guidance here

Windrush Scheme casework guidance

Updated guidance to clarify the historical impact of Section 1(5) of the Immigration Act 1971 on the immigration status of Commonwealth citizens. Previous versions of Home Office guidance contained errors regarding the impact that this legislation had. This guidance has also been updated to reflect an amendment to the Windrush Scheme policy in order to provide for granting of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) to individuals who may previously have been incorrectly issued a status document as a result of these errors.

You can read the full guidance here

Returning residents

Home Office guidance on processing Returning Resident applications has been updated to clarify the historical impact of Section 1(5) of the Immigration Act 1971 on the immigration status of Commonwealth citizens. Previous versions of Home Office guidance contained errors regarding the impact that this legislation had. The Windrush Scheme policy (and relevant guidance documents) has also been updated to reflect this issue.

You can read the full guidance here

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