{"id":273925,"date":"2018-09-27T10:29:22","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T08:29:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=273925"},"modified":"2018-09-27T10:29:22","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T08:29:22","slug":"new-changes-to-uk-immigration-rules-could-be-good-news-for-south-africans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/273925\/new-changes-to-uk-immigration-rules-could-be-good-news-for-south-africans\/","title":{"rendered":"New changes to UK immigration rules could be good news for South Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recommendations set out in a recent UK Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report &#8211; along with the looming Brexit &#8211; could bring very welcome news for non-EU citizens who are looking for opportunities to live and work in the UK.<\/p>\n<p>This is according to Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants, which noted that the committee has recommended that free movement for EU citizens should end after Brexit.<\/p>\n<p>It also recommended that the current Tier 2 Immigration route be expanded to also include medium-skilled workers to the UK.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The expansion of the Tier 2 immigration route, together with the ending of free movement for EU citizens in the UK, will of course bring welcome news for non-EU citizens,&#8221; Breytenbachs said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Not only will<strong> more immigration options<\/strong> be available, but the ending of free movement, will result in <strong>more job opportunities<\/strong> <strong>opening up for non-EU citizens<\/strong>,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Advisory committee<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Breytenbachs noted that if the\u00a0UK Government does not offer concessions to EU workers as part of the Brexit deal, the MAC\u2019s recommendations for work migration post-Brexit in 2021 will probably be implemented in some form.<\/p>\n<p>This is highly likely as the UK Cabinet has unanimously supported an immigration system based on skills rather than nationality on 25 September 2018, it said.<\/p>\n<p>It added that EU workers will thus face the same immigration rules as non-EU workers.<\/p>\n<p>The recommendations proposed by the MAC include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>No free movement for future EU workers. They will be treated in the same way as non-EU workers currently are in terms of immigration status.<\/li>\n<li>No low-skilled worker schemes will be created. The only exception is the Seasonal Agricultural scheme that comes into operation in the British Spring of 2019.<\/li>\n<li>No changes to how the current Tier 2 Intra Company transfer route works.<\/li>\n<li>The Tier 2 visa cap to be removed.<\/li>\n<li>Medium-skilled jobs to be included in the Tier 2 Skilled worker route. Jobs at RQF Level 3, 4 and 5 and 6.<\/li>\n<li>The minimum salary threshold of \u00a330,000 to be retained for all Tier 2 jobs.<\/li>\n<li>The Resident Labour Market Test for Tier 2 Skilled Workers to be abolished.<\/li>\n<li>Tier 2 workers will be able to change employer in-country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;Breytenbachs urges EU citizens who are eligible to apply for Permanent Residence to submit their Indefinite Leave to Remain application without delay.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This way they can apply for British citizenship straight away. They should also apply for Permanent Residence or British Citizenship for their children,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p>It added that it\u00a0welcomed the proposed expansion of the Tier 2 immigration route to include medium-skilled workers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This will bring about many opportunities for non-EU citizens to live and work in the UK,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/273563\/south-africa-to-pilot-e-visa-system-in-new-zealand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South Africa to pilot e-Visa system in New Zealand<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent report by the UK&#8217;s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) points to good news for South Africans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":94011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[12545,26],"class_list":["post-273925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-breytenbachs","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273925"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273937,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273925\/revisions\/273937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}