Page 2 - Uk Visa

UK Family Visa's $36,397 cap now applies to all, including Indian descents

UK Family Visa: We have reached a tipping point with mass migration. There is no simple solution or easy decision which cuts numbers to levels acceptable to the British people," said British govt

Higher income threshold regime to apply for UK Family Visa comes into force

The minimum income required for British citizens and residents, including those of Indian heritage, wanting to sponsor their relatives on a Family Visa increased by over 55 per cent from Thursday, as the incremental increase in salary thresholds announced by the government last year are enforced. Starting Thursday, for someone to be sponsored to come to the UK on a Family Visa, they must have a minimum annual salary of GBP 29,000, up from GBP 18,600. By early next year, this will have increased two more times to match the Skilled Worker visa salary threshold of GBP 38,700. The UK Home Office said it marks the final measure in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly's package to reduce legal migration and ensure those arriving here do not burden the taxpayer. We have reached a tipping point with mass migration. There is no simple solution or easy decision which cuts numbers to levels acceptable to the British people, said Cleverly. I promised action and we have

UK extends visa scheme for war-hit Ukrainians; allows extra 18 months stay

The UK government on Sunday extended its visa scheme for war-hit Ukrainians who sought refuge in the country in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, allowing an additional 18-month stay on their current terms. The Home Office said that from early 2025, all those in the UK under one of the Ukraine visa schemes will be able to apply to stay here for an additional 18 months and continue to have the same rights to access work, benefits, healthcare, and education throughout their stay. This will mean those who came on the first visas under one of the Ukraine visa schemes could now stay in the UK until September 2026. This new visa extension scheme provides certainty and reassurance for Ukrainians in the UK on their future as this war continues, and we will continue to provide a safe haven for those fleeing the conflict, said Tom Pursglove, UK Minister for Legal Migration and the Border. Almost two years on from the start of this brutal war, over 200,000 Ukrainians and their family .

After jail term, Hong Kong pro-independence activist seeks asylum in UK

An activist who advocated for Hong Kong independence and was jailed under a sweeping national security law fled to Britain to seek political asylum, according to his social media posts Friday. Tony Chung was among the first convicted under the Beijing-imposed law that was introduced after the 2019 pro-democracy protests. He was found guilty of secession and money laundering in 2020 and sentenced to 43 months in prison. In two Instagram posts Friday, Chung detailed how authorities closely watched him after he was released from prison: He was asked to meet with national security authorities regularly and report to them on where he had been, whom he had met with and his conversations, and authorities offered to pay him for information on others to prove he had reformed himself. They also proposed he go to mainland China. Chung said he was made to sign a document that barred him from disclosing his conversations with the authorities, so he could not seek help from any lawyers nor tell .

UK cautioned against 'unfair' visa crackdown on Indian workers, students

Groups representing skilled professionals and students from India on Tuesday expressed concerns over a lack of clarity around the UK government's latest visa crackdown, branding the ban on family dependents as unfair. UK Home Secretary James Cleverly tabled a five-point plan in Parliament on Monday that would see overseas care workers banned from bringing family members and skilled professionals having to meet a much higher minimum salary threshold of GBP 38,700. While the Health and Care visa will be exempt from this hiked salary requirement, it remains unclear how the category would operate for Indian medics in future. We will be writing to the Home Secretary urgently to seek clarification; we hope that this does not include doctors and nurses because if it does, we can assure the Home Office that the number of doctors and nurses coming to UK from India will be nil, said Dr Ramesh Mehta, founder of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) the UK's largest ..

UK tables visa rules for foreign workers, clampdown on bringing families

The UK government on Monday tabled a tough new set of measures to bring down the country's immigration numbers, including a much higher salary threshold for foreign workers to access skilled visas and a clampdown on bringing family members as their dependants. UK Home Secretary James Cleverly delivered a statement in the House of Commons to reveal that under the crackdown, which will also impact Indians, medics on Health and Care visas will no longer be able to bring any family members with them. For those applying under other skilled worker visa routes, the salary threshold for an application will rise from the current GBP 26,200 to GBP 38,700. The same salary amount will apply to those applying under the family visa category, which currently stands at GBP 18,600. "Immigration policy must be fair, consistent, legal, and sustainable," Cleverly told the Parliament. In total, this package plus our reduction in student dependants will mean around 300,000 fewer people will come in fut

UK visa fee hike for visitors, students to be effective from Oct 4

The British government has announced that a proposed hike in visa fees will become effective from October 4, when a visit visa for under six months will cost GBP 15 more and student visas will be GBP 127 more expensive for travellers from around the world, including Indians. Following legislation tabled in Parliament on Friday, the UK Home Office said the changes mean that the cost for a visit visa for less than six months will rise to GBP 115 and the fee for applying for a student visa from outside the UK will rise to GBP 490 to equal the amount charged for in-country applications. It comes after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had announced in July that the fees and health surcharge paid towards the UK's state-funded National Health Service (NHS) by visa applicants are set to rise significantly to meet the country's public sector wage increase. We are going to increase the charges that we have for migrants who are coming to this country when they apply for visas and indeed ...

Requirements for a UK work visa might get easier for Indians. Here is why

Net migration to the UK reached an unprecedented 606,000 individuals last year

Govt likely to slash duty on UK cars, scotch whisky under trade pact

Striking a trade accord is critical for India's ambition to become a manufacturing powerhouse, while the UK is seeking to clinch new deals to highlight the benefits of Brexit

UK visa fees, health surcharge to rise to meet higher costs, says PM Sunak

The fees and health surcharge paid towards the UK's state-funded National Health Service (NHS) by visa applicants from around the world, including Indians, are set to rise "significantly to meet the country's public sector wage increase, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday. The British Indian leader, who was under pressure to accept the recommendation of an independent review of pay for teachers, police, junior doctors and other public sector workers, confirmed a hike between 5 and 7 per cent across the board. However, he stressed that this would not be met with higher government borrowing for fear of further stoking high inflation and therefore the costs would need to be found elsewhere. If we're going to prioritise paying public sector workers more, that money has to come from somewhere else because I'm not prepared to put up people's taxes and I don't think it would be responsible or right to borrow more because that would just make inflation worse, Sunak told reporters a

UK to soon disallow international students to bring dependants along

The move comes ahead of the official data, which is expected to show that legal migration has hit a record high of 700,000 this year

India received the highest number of UK student visas in 2022: Envoy

The UK issued a total of 2,836,490 visas in 2022, out of which 25 per cent went to India, the highest number issued to any country, British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis said on Tuesday

UK providing visit visas within 15 days to travellers from India: Envoy

The UK is now providing visit visas to travellers from India within 15 days of receiving applications, British High Commissioner Alex Ellis said on Friday. At the same time, he said a small number of trickier cases take longer time. "Two months ago, I said that our aim was by the end of the year to be turning around visit visas from India to the UK within our standard time of 15 working days. The great news is that the team has now achieved it through fantastic work here in Delhi and across the whole visa network," Ellis said in a short video clip that he posted on Twitter. "There are still a few cases which take longer, the very complex ones and that's right that they do," he added. The high commissioner described quicker visa processing as "good news". "You can of course use the priority visa channel if you still want. We are turning that around within five days. And finally we have a big intake of student visas for the student session starting in January of next year," he said.

Visa consultancy firm BLS International crosses $1 bn in market cap

Delhi-based company says its business gained after countries eased travel restrictions for Covid-19

Latest LIVE updates: Earthquake of 4.1 magnitude hits Himachal Pradesh

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Sunak greenlights 3,000 UK visas for Indians hours after meeting PM Modi

The British government said India is the first visa-national country to benefit from such a scheme, highlighting the strength of the UK-India Migration and Mobility Partnership agreed last year.

India ramps up visa processing in UK, announces new process for group tours

These steps come following complaints of visa delays that have resulted in trip cancellations

Action initiated on all cases: India on UK's visa overstayer claim

India has countered UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman's claim that the Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP) had not "worked very well" to say that India had initiated action on all cases raised with it under the agreement. In response to a PTI query about Braverman's interview in The Spectator' that branded Indians as the largest group of people who overstay their visas in the UK, the Indian High Commission here said that India awaits demonstrable progress on certain commitments undertaken by the UK government under the MMP that was signed last year. As part of our wider discussions under Migration and Mobility, the government of India is committed to working with the government of the UK to facilitate the return of Indian citizens who have overstayed their visa period here in the UK, the High Commission of India statement said on Thursday. As per the data shared with the Home Office, as of date, action has been initiated on all of the cases referred to the High Commission. ...

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman objects to increasing visas for Indians

Suella Braverman has again risked upsetting No. 10 after saying she has "reservations" about Britain's trade deal with India because it could increase immigration to the UK, The Guardian reported

Indian students to the UK start getting priority and super priority visas

Under the Priority Visa service, the UK government decides on the student's visa application within five days. Under the Super Priority service, it is granted by the end of next working day