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The UK Border Agency has announced that the retired persons of independent means route to enter the UK will be no longer be available as of 27 November 2008.

This route to the UK is seldom used, figures from the UK Border Agency show that less than 20 applications are received in this category each year.

In February 2008, UK immigration regulations began enforcing a new regime of fines on employers found to be employing migrants without official permission to work.  UK Border Agency officials may now issue on-the-spot fines to employers of up to £10,000 per unauthorised worker – a measure which has been accompanied by a series of highly publicised immigration raids on workplaces. The new regime has led to a huge increase in demands on the part of employers for passports and other identity documents from their workers.

PAPERS PLEASE is the first attempt to look at the impact of this new regime on migrant workers themselves.  Based on interviews with migrants affected by the changes, trade union officials, and employer associations, it identifies worrying trends towards discrimination and an increase in tensions in workforces where migrant workers are present.

PAPERS PLEASE relates these developments to wider concerns about increases in the vulnerability of migrant workers to exploitation and the erosion of basic employment rights.  It calls for civil society organisations to better engage with the range of problems emerging in this troubled area, and for determined efforts to counter the effects of discrimination and the abuse of power.

Download a free copy of PAPERS PLEASE from MRN’s website

For a free copy of the published report, within the UK, send an A4-size SAE with a 56p stamp to ‘Papers Please’ report, Migrants’ Rights Network, 253 Upper Street, London N1 1RY.

For delivery outside the UK, or to inquire about receiving multiple copies of the report, email info@migrantsrights.org.uk to inquire about terms of delivery.

Personneltoday.com has reported that a government adviser who helped create the new points-based  system has advised employers they won't be able to bring in non-EU migrant workers unless they also demonstrate their efforts to train UK workers.

The UK’s Border and Immigration Agency recently announced that the next step in their immigration overhaul is due to be implemented on the 27th November 2008. What this will mean is that the long awaited Tier 2 – the points based system’s ‘flag ship’ Tier – and the Tier 5 schemes will come into operation on this date.

The Tier 2 scheme will replace the current Work Permit scheme which is in place to enable employers to utilize foreign workers in positions which they struggle to fill with resident workers. The Tier 2 application will still require a UK based employer and the role and candidate will still need to pass a ‘resident labour’ test, amongst other things, in order to qualify for the scheme. A major difference between the Work Permit and the Tier 2 application is that the employer is expected to play a much more active role in the employment of their foreign nationals and ensuring that they abide by their visa regulations.

A company wishing to employ a foreign national must be in possession of a valid certificate which enables them to employ foreigners in the first place. Employers can obtain this certificate by meeting certain requirements and making an application to the Border and Immigration Agency.

The Tier 5 scheme is a scheme designated to attract low skilled temporary workers to the UK and will replace the current and vastly popular Working Holiday Visa (WHV) to the UK. The Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) will now be available instead of the WHV, but the question still remains as to whether or not countries like South Africa will be afforded the opportunity to utilise the YMS scheme under the Tier 5 application.

The new Business Visitor visa will also be introduced on the 27th November 2008 to those wishing to travel to the UK for short business trips. Residents from non-visa national countries (of which South Africa is currently one) will not need to obtain this visa prior to entering UK as it will be issued on arrival by the customs official at the port of entry. This Business Visitor visa will enable business persons to enter the UK and undertake tasks such as conferences, securing deals, undertaking fact finding missions, conducting site visits, etc during their time in the UK on this visa.

The National Business Review is reporting a story about extending working holidays in the UK for Kiwis. 

From next month young New Zealanders heading to Britain will be able to work there for two years, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced today.

At present they can go to the United Kingdom for two years under a Working Holiday Visa which allows them to work for one year of their stay.

From November 27 there will be a new visa category under the Youth Mobility Scheme allowing them to work for the whole of the two-year period.

A Liverpool Daily Post article written by Paul Edwards reported that British cricket clubs have been warned to abide by new immigration laws and apply for a sponsorship license to employ overseas players or face prosecution. The article was published on 13 October 2008 and is not available online but can be seen below:

OFFICIALS OF cricket clubs intending to employ overseas players in 2009 will risk prosecution if they do not abide by new regulations introduced by the Home Office.

The Managed Migration System replaces all the current means by which cricketers come to the UK and introduces three categories for applicants. The first of these, Tier 2, will be used solely by the first-class counties, but the others, Tier 5 and Sports Visas, are specifically designed for recreational clubs such as those in the Business Assistance Liverpool Competition.

Tier 5 is for professional players who will need to have played five first-class matches in the previous 24 months and will also need to possess, or be in the process of getting, a Level II coaching qualification.

Clubs wishing to employ such a cricketer will need to get a Licence of Sponsorship from the Home Office, which will ultimately allow the player to apply for a biometric Visa from the British Embassy or High Commission in his home country. Such applications may, of course, still be turned down on security or other grounds.

Licences will cost £400 and will last for four years. Sponsoring clubs will need to supply evidence of ECB support, copies of club accounts plus insurance and other documents with their application. The new licences will also be player specific - if a club changes its professional, a new application, costing £10, will have to be made.

The new regulations may sound dry and predictably bureaucratic. But such is the Home Office's desire to control immigration more tightly, that it has been made clear that heavy fines or even possible imprisonment await officials who bring in or employ "migrant workers" without proper documentation.

The Sports Visa method of entry is simpler and it is anticipated that it will be adopted by most recreational clubs. Under the system, players who can prove that to the Embassy or High Commission that they are not professional cricketers will be able to apply for a Sports Visa to play for a specific club. These will cost £65 and it is understood they will be available from countries decribed by the Home office as "low risk" such as South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Despite the new visas being intended for amateur sportspersons, it will still be permitted for such cricketers to be paid for their services and most first-grade Australian players, for example, would be included in this category.

Both systems place considerable administrative burdens on club officials, but Neil Edwards, Secretary of the League Cricket Conference and an authority in the field of employing overseas cricketers, feels that the impact will be "quite positive".

"Under the new system, it's quite clear what clubs have to do," he said.

It's quite clear what clubs have to do.