Immigration is front of mind for any party in power, as with the new Labour government and illustrated by the immediate scrapping of the UK-Rwanda asylum plan and the introduction of the Border Security Command. We summarise some of the changes to immigration policies that may be implemented by the new Labour government.
To view the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.
UK biometric residence permits, biometric residence cards, passport endorsements and vignette stickers in passports are being converted from hard copies to online records, known as eVisas. The UK government intends to convert all of these physical documents to eVisas by 1 January 2025.
To view the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.
Since January 31, 2024, individuals traveling to the United Kingdom have been allowed to work remotely while visiting. Visitors are prohibited from engaging with the local market, working for organizations in the UK, or directly providing goods and services to the public. These rules prohibit visitors from traveling to the UK with the primary purpose of remote working, which is a significant difference compared to the ‘digital nomad’ visas offered by other countries. We offer a table of many countries with so-called digital nomad visas, including current fees and minimum income requirements. This type of visa can allow workers, freelancers and self-employed individuals to live in one country whilst working remotely for a company located in a different country.
To view the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.
The Home Secretary hopes that these changes will reduce net migration by 300,000. However, some are concerned that curbing migration at this rate will be extremely detrimental to efforts to tackle skills shortages in the United Kingdom.
Continue reading “The Home Secretary Announces Changes to the UK’s Immigration System”
On December 13, 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it had received enough petitions to meet the annual numerical allocation of 85,000 H-1B visas for fiscal year 2024 (FY2024), which includes 65,000 regular and 20,000 U.S. advanced degree (U.S. master’s degree) cap petitions. The next period during which registrants will be allowed to submit H-1B cap registrations is expected to be in the first couple of weeks of March 2024 for an October 1, 2024, (FY2025) employment start date for successful registrants.
Continue reading “USCIS Announces H-1B Cap Has Been Reached for Fiscal Year 2024”
Several countries have been slowly moving away from physical forms of confirming the immigration status of foreign nationals (e.g., vignettes or visa stickers in passports and residence permits) and towards the adoption of digital authentication methods. Most commonly, we are seeing eVisas or digital visas introduced for short-term visitor travel; however, some countries are also now adopting them for long-term stays. This article will focus primarily on the changes being made to the UK’s immigration system and also describe briefly some other interesting recent developments.
To view the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.