UK immigration minister, Caroline Nokes, recently made a number of surprising announcements as the country prepares to make visa reforms.<\/p>\n
Below, Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants broke down some of the most important changes and what they will mean for South Africans.<\/p>\n
Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa to be replaced by innovator route<\/strong><\/p>\n The current Tier 1 Entrepreneur route will be replaced by a new Innovator route, for more experienced business persons.<\/p>\n It will have a \u201csimilar emphasis on endorsement by a business sponsor, who will assess applicants\u2019 business ideas for their innovation, viability and scalability\u201d.<\/p>\n “We subsequently encourage applicants who still want to apply under the current Tier 1 Entrepreneur route, to contact us without delay,” Breytenbachs said.<\/p>\n New start-up visa route<\/strong><\/p>\n Earlier in 2018, the UK Government announced that it will establish a new Start-up visa route. This route will build on the Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur route.<\/p>\n Applicants under this new route will have to be endorsed by either a business or higher education institution sponsor.<\/p>\n No clarity on Tier 1 investor route<\/strong><\/p>\n The UK Government announced on 6 December 2018 that the Tier 1 Investor route is suspended.<\/p>\n It added this route will from 7 December 2018 no longer be open for applicants to apply, and that new rules will be put in place sometime during 2019.<\/p>\n However, the Home Office has since released an official statement to the Immigration Law Practitioners\u2019 Association (ILPA) stating the following:<\/p>\n “The Tier 1 (Investor) visa is not currently suspended. However, the Government remains committed to reforming the route. A further announcement will be made in due course.<\/p>\n “Any suspension would be implemented through changes to the Immigration rules.”<\/p>\n Tier 1 exceptional talent extended to architects<\/strong><\/p>\n The Tier 1 Exceptional Talent route will be expanded to provide for the inclusion of leading architects.<\/p>\n These architects will have to be endorsed by the Royal Institute of British Architects, under the remit of the Arts Council England.<\/p>\n Tier 5 religious and charity workers<\/strong><\/p>\n Tier 5 Religious Workers and Tier 5 Charity Workers will in future have a cooling off period.<\/p>\n This cooling off period will prevent them from returning to the UK for 12 months, on another Tier 5 visa. This step is taken to underpin the fact that this is a temporary route.<\/p>\n
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