This is Paul Turner the Immigration Barrister at Imperium Chambers
This video is to address the latest Home Office guidance on the coronavirus pandemic and how it affects Migrants – this is the third video on the Home Office’s response to the pandemic.
Firstly, I would ask that anyone who is watching the video to subscribe to my channel and hit the notification button
Anyway moving onto to the Home Office’s guidance on Covid for UK Visa applicants and temporary UK residents, this has been updated on 1 July 2020.
The first thing that I would note is that it is not as lenient as before and there are some changes, and you need to be careful if your visa runs out soon, whereas the HO had been extending visas to those who could not leave the UK firstly till end of May 2020 and then end of July 2020 – they are not proposing any further extension.
You can still apply to switch to a long term visa until 31 July 2020 if your visa expires between 24 January 2020 and 31 July 2020
You can also apply from the UK if the visa expires after 31 July 2020 if you urgently need to make a new application, for a job, course of study and cannot leave the UK.
Applications for the above need to be made on line.
Good news is that some UK Visa and Citizenship Application Centres have reopened/
More good news is that some English Language testing centres have reopened – check below
Trinity College London
International English Language Testing System (IELTS)
LanguageCert website
The situation for Tier 1 Entrepreneurs is the same -though you cannot rely on furloughed employees.
For Tier 4, Tier 2 and 5 applicants they can start studying or working prior a decision if you have a CAS or COS and you submitted the application in time
The HO is continuing to automatically extend visas for those who work for the NHS if your visa expires between 31 March and 1 October 2020 – there is an extensive list of occupations:
you work for the NHS or an independent health or care provider
your visa expires between 31 March and 1 October
you work as a:
biochemist
biological scientist
dental practitioner
health professional
medical practitioner
medical radiographer
midwife
nurse
occupational therapist
ophthalmologist
paramedic
pharmacist
physiotherapist
podiatrist
psychologist
social worker
speech and language therapist
therapy professional
A potential bonus is that anyone working on coronavirus research maybe able to apply for a Global Talent visa – please contact me for more details about this positive but needed concession.
For those outside the UK good news as some UK Visa Application Centres will be re-opening where it is safe. The HO are aiming to have a phased re-opening of the centres. To check whether a centre is open near to you please contact:
TLS contact if you’re in Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East
VFS global for all other countries
Importantly, British nationals abroad are accepting online passport applications.
If you had a 30 day visa to work, study or join family member has expired you can request a replacement with new dates at no cost.
For spouses and the minimum income requirement – the HO will consider employment immediately before the loss of income due to coronavirus provided that you were employed up too March 2020 for 6 months
Also if the salary has been furloughed the HO will treat it as if you were earning 100% of your income.
For the self employed a loss of income between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2020 will generally be disregarded.
The last two points are interesting, the HO have stated that they will depart from the specified documents if you cannot get the due to coronavirus
And lastly you can apply for an English language exemption if the test centre is closed.
While there remain a number of concessions and this is welcomed what is worrying is that the HO are no longer proposing to extend visas for people beyond 31 July 2020 due to coronavirus, so my advice would be make sure your visa has been extended and secondly you apply for an extension on or before 31 July 2020 to avoid becoming an overstayer.
If and when further updates become available I will post them on line.
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