HR Articles

The last few days of Parliament have not provided anyone with any certainty on Brexit. A key group of stakeholders of Brexit are the EU citizens in the UK and those intending to come here post-Brexit. So, what happens if there is no deal before 29 March 2019 and the UK crashes out of the EU?

The EU Settlement Scheme is now entering its first public test phase from 21 January 2019. The scheme, which is scheduled to fully open on 30 March 2019, has undergone private testing phases with employees in the higher education, health and social care sectors.

On 13 December 2018, the Government laid before the Parliament the Immigration (Restrictions on Employment) (Code of Practice and Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2018 and an updated Code of practice to prevent illegal working.

The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) will double on 8 January 2019. The IHS is a charge paid by temporary migrants to the UK. This increase means that most visa applicants (from outside the EU) will now pay £400 per year up from £200 per year. Student and Youth Mobility visa applications will have to pay £300 per year up from £150 per year.

While U.K. citizens pondering passport issues such as: 'will it likely be red or blue after Brexit and what line will I need to queue in after a holiday?' There are also some seemingly unpleasant side effects of the transition.

Tier 1 investor visas which require a person to invest at least £2million in the UK is currently suspended until the Home Office put new rules into place.

The MAC report has been long awaited and has been anticipated as evidence to what the UK’s future intentions in regards to Immigration policy may be following Brexit. In general, it seems the report suggests that workers from EEA countries should not be given preference over those from other nations in post-Brexit immigration policy.

British universities have called on the government to bring back the post study work visa which would allow overseas students to stay in the country to work for up to two years after graduation. The scheme was scrapped in 2012 and strict post study work rules may have had a significant impact on prospective applicants from certain countries, including India.

The Government is facing judicial review proceedings over an exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018 that prevents citizens from accessing their immigration data. Two campaign groups, the Open Rights Group and the3million, have threatened legal action since the provision was introduced into the Data Protection Bill, and have now launched a legal challenge with the aim of seeing the provision removed from the statute.

In July, the Home Office updated its sponsor guidance for businesses sponsoring Tier 2 and 5 workers. HR teams and those responsible for managing sponsorship duties, should ensure they are aware of the updates. The Home Office has also made changes to Appendix D, specifically in relation to the documents which must be retained following a Resident Labour Market Test.