Formally there have been no significant changes to Home Office guidance for sponsors yet. However, in practice new sponsor licence applications are assessed more strictly. There are certain rules and principles that give Home Office UKVI significant discretion in decision making depending on the circumstances of each case. For example, the concept of ‘genuine vacancy’ …
From 15 October 2024, UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) are no longer provided by Sopra Steria UK. TLScontact has taken over the running of UKVCAS. For clarity, commercial partners are commercial organizations to whom Home Office outsources the biometric appointments & documents collection from visa applicants and forwarding them to Home Office UKVI. We previously published …
Read more “UK visa – changes in commercial partners VFS Global and TLS contact”
We previously published articles on fraud when fake Certificates of Sponsorship (COS) are issued that causes skilled worker and health and care visa refusals. This time we decided to write about another problem that many skilled worker visa holders face when they arrive in the UK but there is no or very little work provided …
On 24th September 2024 Sir Keir Starmer told the Labour Party conference that his Government will reduce migration and Britain’s dependency on foreign workers. In the afternoon on the same day there was published a press release on reducing net migration. Previously the new Labour government stressed the importance of the removal of those who …
BBC in a recent article draws attention to the large number of skilled worker visa scams. We previously wrote about fake COS certificates and lack of option to check COS authenticity as this has been a problem for sometime now. The fact that there is no working method of checking the validity of a COS …
Read more “UK immigration – COS scams & fraud costing victims”
From 15 October 2024, UK Visa and Citizenship Application Services (UKVCAS) will no longer be provided by Sopra Steria UK. TLScontact will take over the running of UKVCAS. Applicants can book their biometrics appointment with Sopra Steria UK by 14 October 2024 by logging in to your UKVCAS account via Sopra Steria website (www.ukvcas.co.uk). We …
Removal of foreign nationals with ‘no right to be in the UK’ Removal of failed asylum seekers and those with ‘no right to be in the UK’ is high on the current UK government’s agenda. According to BBC news and other online sources, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and the Home Office have promised a “large …
Changes to the commercial partner visa application services According to Home Office updates, between September 2024 and January 2025, the commercial partner will change from TLScontact to VFS Global in some locations in: Other parts of the world are not affected. Commercial partners are commercial organizations to whom Home Office outsources the biometric appointments & …
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Potentially fake COS Check website Many UK work visa applicants search for ways to check if their Certificate of Sponsorship (COS) is genuine. Recently we have came across a website which seems to impersonate Home Office COS checking. If it was a genuine site it would be useful for applicants. However, the COS Check site …
Read more “Suspicious COS check website claiming to be Home Office – important for UK work visas”
We have written extensively about the challenges to the new financial requirements for spouse/unmarried partner visa in the UK. Recently, as noted by The Telegraph, there have been new developments in the matter. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary in new Labour government has announced some updates. For the moment, the most important is the freezing …