Immigration update – May 2024

Changes to the EU Settlement Scheme

On the 21 May 2024 it was announced that the Home Office will change the duration of pre-settled status extensions from two to five years and remove the expiry date from digital profiles which are used by third parties for Right to Work, Right to Rent and View and Prove. 

In addition to this, employers, landlords and letting agents will no longer be required to conduct a further right to work or rent check in circumstances where the individual remains in their employment or as part of that tenancy agreement. 

This is a welcome change which will bring more simplicity for pre-settled status visa holders to demonstrate their rights and status in the UK. 

Clarification on Right to Work checks after 31 December 2024 

The UKVI has confirmed that for Biometric Residence Permits (BRP’s) which have an expiry date of 31 December 2024, a repeat Right to Work check is not needed until the employee’s leave is due to expire as the expiry date on the BRP refers to the document only, and not to the visa holder’s immigration status. 

It has also been confirmed that the Home Office is in the process of updating related eVisa checker factsheets and communications material to clarify this point.  

Employers are reminded that visa expiry dates are listed and should be tracked based on the employee share code system. 

Government response to Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report on Graduate visas

On 16 May the MAC published its Rapid Review of the Graduate visa route following commission from the Home Secretary. Key findings of the report were that “the Graduate route has broadly achieved, and continues to achieve, the objectives set by this government. We therefore recommend that the route remains in place in its current form. We found no evidence of any significant abuse of the Graduate route.” 

Subsequently the Government announced new measures to tackle Student visa abuse but stopped short of requesting any changes to the Graduate visa route. 

The new proposals are: 

• to regulate the recruitment of international students by recruitment agents 
• to introduce tougher compliance standards for institutions taking overseas students including removal of sponsor licences for institutions who accept international students who then fail to pass Home Office visa checks, enrol or complete their courses 
• to raising financial maintenance requirements 
• to review English language assessments 
• to add restrictions on the remote delivery of courses. 

Following the announcement of the election for 4 July – it remains to be seen what changes if any will be introduced. 

Increase to Sopra Steria visa appointment fees for applicants in the UK 

It has been announced by Sopra Steria that they will be increasing their fees for standard chargeable, premium lounge, meet and greet plus and flexible appointment fees, with an increase of between 2% and 3%.  

The exact amounts are yet to be confirmed and will be updated on their website in due course. 

A limited number of free of charge standard appointments will still continue to be made available on a first come first served basis, and other added value service extras will also remain unaffected. 

Roll out of super priority submission route for leave to remain Skilled Worker visa applications

In recent years the Home Office amended its visa process to make it less onerous for applicants – those who were eligible were able to use the Home Office ID verification app on their mobile phone and rely upon their previously submitted biometric data to file a visa application. This benefitted applicants by saving a considerable amount of time on the overall application process as well as the inconvenience and cost of attending an in-person visa application centre. 

Until recently, those applying from within the UK under the Skilled Worker visa route via the Home Office ID verification app could not submit their visa application via the ‘super priority’ submission service, as only ‘standard’ route and ‘priority’ route services were available for purchase. Anyone applying for a Skilled Worker visa who wished to benefit from the super priority submission route would be required to attend an in-person biometric appointment instead. 

The Home Office has now updated the app to include the super priority service as being available for purchase for Skilled Worker visa holders (not their dependants), which is a very welcomed update. Those who wish to use this processing route service will be required to pay an extra £1,000 on top of the visa application fee and as a result will benefit from a decision on their application being made in typically one to two business days (in contrast to a £500 fee for a one week turn around under the ‘priority service’). Application processing times continue to be subject to change and not guaranteed, irrespective of the application submission route being purchased. 

Super priority and priority visa services launched in additional locations

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has now extended the list of locations outside the UK whereby visa applicants can purchase ‘super priority’ or ‘priority’ processing services in order to benefit from a quicker decision-making time frame on their visa application to visit the UK. 

Priority services typically reduce visa processing times down to five to seven working days from the date of biometric enrolment and super priority services typically reduce visa processing times down to one to two working days from the date of biometric enrolment. It is important to note that the UKVI does not guarantee processing times, irrespective of whether the priority or super priority processing service has been purchased.  

The list of additional locations is as follows. 

Priority services 

• Cali (Colombia) 
• Medellin (Colombia) 
• Buenos Aires (Argentina) 

Super priority services 

• Jakarta (Indonesia) 
• Bogota (Colombia) 

 
These improvements follow the UKVI’s launch of commercial partner remote printing facilities and is part of their initiative to deliver service improvements as well as to open options for additional priority services within markets that do not yet have access to them.

Fee waiver introduced for BNO visa extension applications 

On 10 April 2024, the Home Office introduced a new fee waiver process for applicants applying for a visa extension of 30 months under the British National (Overseas) route. 

Details of the fee waiver process are contained in the Immigration, Nationality and Passport (fees) (amendment) Regulations 2024 and state that fees can be waived where the following criteria applies: 

• the applicant’s current grant of leave was made under Appendix Hong Kong British National (Overseas); 
• they have had the no recourse to public funds restriction lifted from their leave under paragraph HK 65.1;  
• they are in receipt of public funds; and 
• the applicant satisfies the Home Office that they are unable to afford the application fee and/or the Immigration Health Surcharge fee. 

The Home Office will write to the applicant to obtain further information on their financial situation and will complete an affordability assessment on their behalf to see whether they have successfully demonstrated that they cannot afford the fee. 

Applicants who do not qualify for a fee waiver but meet all other requirements for further leave to remain under this route will be required to pay the full fees and their visa will be issued with the standard condition attached of ‘no recourse to public funds’.