Entering England during coronavirus

UK Government has recently announced that from 4:00am 30 November 2021, fully vaccinated people must self-isolate and take a PCR test before the end of day 2 after they arrive in England. They may leave self-isolation if their PCR result is negative. Lateral flow tests will not be accepted.

You can read more from here, which tells you what you must do before you travel to England and after you arrive.

What you must do depends on whether you qualify as fully vaccinated under the rules for travel to England.

There are different rules if you have been in a red list country or territory in the 10 days before you arrive in England. Red list rules apply whether you are fully vaccinated or not.

Last updated: 4:51pm, 28 November 2021

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Red list update, Sunday 28 November 2021

Angola, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia were added to the UK red list at 4am Sunday 28 November.

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

In line with the above updates, the UK Government has announced an updated information on individuals currently in the UK and seeking to apply for ‘exceptional assurance’, highlighting that UKVCAS service points remain open and appointments are available and confirmation that a pause on assessing visit visas in red list locations has been introduced with for those countries added to the red list from today:

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

If you’re in the UK

You are expected to take all reasonable steps to leave the UK where it is possible to do so or apply to regularise your stay in the UK. You are allowed to access Visa and Immigration services as these are considered an essential public service. You must follow current COVID-19 rules for where you live, in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

If you intend to leave the UK to return to a country or territory but have not been able to do so and you have a visa, leave or ‘exceptional assurance’ that expires before 31 January 2022 you may request additional time to stay, known as ‘exceptional assurance’.

This is for individuals whose country of residence is red-listed or exceptional cases where you may be unable to return to a country or territory where that nation has closed their borders or where quarantine facilities are temporarily over-subscribed.

In addition to the above, see the section “If you’re applying to enter the UK or remain on the basis of family or private life”, which was updated on 19 November 2021.

If you’re currently in the UK and/or applying to enter/ remain in the UK on the basis of your family life and the above applies to you, please contact our immigration team for advice.

Last updated: 26 November 2021

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Innovator caseworker guidance

The Home Office guidance has been updated to reflect: additions to the validation actions to take when an endorsing body is no longer active or no longer supporting a migrant at the time of consideration; additions to the cancellation actions to take when an endorsing body is no longer active or supporting a migrant that already has permission to stay in the UK; changes to the section granting and refusing entry and port.

Innovator Visa Casework Guidance

Last updated: 23 November 2021

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Start-up Casework Guidance

This guidance has been updated to reflect additions to the validation actions to take when an endorsing body is no longer active or no longer supporting a migrant at the time of consideration and additions to the cancellation actions to take when an endorsing body is no longer active or supporting a migrant that already has permission to stay in the UK.

Start-up Visa Casework Guidance

Last updated:
19 November 2021

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Statement of Changes

The government has announced a new Statement of Changes  in Immigration Rules published on 1 November 2021.

The changes being made allow poultry workers and people undertaking haulage driving work involving transportation of food goods to come to the UK on the Seasonal Worker immigration route.

Applications for the purposes of working in the poultry production sector ended on 15 November 2021. Visas under the temporary workers scheme on this category will end on 31 December 2021.
Applications for pork butchers under the temporary workers visa scheme are open until 31 December 2021. Visas under the temporary workers scheme are only available for 800 pork butchers and are valid for 6 months from date of issue.
Applications for the purposes of working in haulage driving involving transportation of food goods must be made before 1 December 2021. This is so workers can be in the UK for a meaningful amount of time before their permission ends on 28 February 2022.

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EU Settlement Scheme: EU, other EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members (Version 14.0)

On 15 November, the UK government made changes to its above guidance to reflect changes to Appendix EU made in Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules: HC 617, laid on 10 September 2021. These include the incorporation in the Rules of the concession on COVID-19 related absence from the UK and the removal of the prohibition in the Rules on a person applying as a joining family member of a relevant sponsor while in the UK as a visitor.

Changes also include a temporary concession outside Appendix EU:

to disapply the requirement that their continuous qualifying period of residence began before the end of the transition period for an extended family member (other than a durable partner) or a person relying on derivative rights (Chen, Ibrahim & Teixeira or Zambrano), who applied before the end of the transition period for an EEA family permit, and would have been issued with one (including on appeal) but for the closure of that route on 30 June 2021 (or was issued with one, but was unable to travel to the UK by that date), and arrived in the UK with an EUSS family permit issued to them instead
to enable the requirement for a relevant document to be met by way of an appropriate letter from the Secretary of State. This concession applies to an extended family member who, before the end of the transition period, was already in the UK and had applied for an EEA residence card, and who would have been issued with one (including on appeal) but for the closure of that route on 30 June 2021

If you need any further information, please contact our immigration team or complete the enquiry form for assistance.