Immigration and asylum update

Complication arising from the Home Office’s mission to simplify is keeping practitioners busy across the spectrum of immigration law. New obligations, with heavy penalties for breaching them, now attach to employers and migrants. The withdrawal of established policies and concessions, and confusion as to what replaces them and when, has characterised the “consolidation” of policy guidance. The piecemeal introduction of the points based system (PBS) for economic migration has challenged advisers to discern safe and lawful routes for applicants seeking to preserve, extend, or change immigration status in the UK. Undeterred, the government announces new measures with robust confidence and unprecedented pace.

POINTS BASED SYSTEM—RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC607 was laid before Parliament on 9 June 2008. Key provisions are as follows:

Tier 1
The sub-division of Tier 1 beyond the “General” (post-HSMP) category effectively replaces other existing categories. The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP), Business Person, Investor/Innovator and International Graduate Scheme are withdrawn as at 30 June 2008