This past week there has been some major confusion about the state of the Tier 1 UK visa program for immigrants to the UK. This includes holders of the (now superceded) HSMP visa program, used by many Americans, South Africans, Indians, Canadians and Pakistanis to live and work in the UK. There have been significant changes and clarifications in this first and second week of March 2009 and visa holders should be aware.
As background and to be clear, the HSMP visa has, as of June 2008, been retired and merged into the Tier 1 visa program. This is effectively the same program, but the name changed. It is still a points based system and nearly all applicants for HSMP also qualify under the Tier 1 rules.
The UK Home Office (immigration bureau) has decided that new applicants for the Tier 1 visa will now be required to have at least a Masters level university degree. Formerly, applicants with only a bachelors degree would qualify. This is a significant change that will affect many applicants and greatly decrease the number of individuals that qualify under this system.
Until March 11, it was unclear whether existing HSMP or Tier 1 visa holders would qualify when renewing their visas. Many visa holders were worried they would be disqualified when renewing, as the rules stated that renewal criteria are the same as new applicant criteria.
However as of March 11, rules were clarified by the Home Office that renewals would be processed with the same criteria as the original application. Thus visa holders would not necessarily need a Masters degree to renew their visa, though brand new applicants would.
This rule has been documented in a publication called HC314 – Statement of change in immigration rules. You can find the full text here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/statementsofchanges/2009/hc314.pdf?view=Binary
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