UK SKILLED WORKER VISA

The UK Skilled Worker visa was introduced to bring in highly skilled overseas workers into the UK labor market and subsequently take up permanent residence in the UK.

With this visa, skilled workers from other countries can be selected based on the shortage occupation list and they will be eligible to get an offer letter without the labor market test and stay in the UK for up to 5 years.

BENEFITS OF THE VISA:

• Visa holders can bring dependents on the visa
• Spouse is allowed to work on the visa
• No cap on the number of people who can move to the UK on the visa
• Minimum salary requirement has been reduced to £25600 from threshold of £30000
• Fast Track Visas will be provided for healthcare professionals like doctors and nurses

OUTLOOK OF UK IMMIGRATION PLAN 

In this year, there will be major opportunities for UK immigration. The country plans new routes such as Global Business Mobility and Scale-up. It will introduce new visa categories and consolidate or modify some existing offerings. The new High Potential Individual visa would provide user-friendly access.

• High Potential Individual route: It is a visa for students who have graduated from a top global university. It allows them to enter the UK without a job offer and work without restrictions, offering them the possibility to settle in the country if they meet certain criteria.
• Scale-up route: It is a visa for talented candidates having a job offer from a qualified scale-up.

Simplifying the Innovator route:  Introduction of a fast-track program for businesses with growth potential

Allowing more flexible options for funding and an opportunity for the applicant to work outside the primary business

• Global Business Mobility: New Global Business Mobility route for overseas businesses

The UK government has laid out all these plans as it aims to make the UK a global innovation hub by 2035. The introduction of this new fast-track visa for recruiting overseas talent would be “very important or vital” for the growth of its economy and employment.

Apart from these, the country is also facing labor shortages in many areas and hence it will rely on UK immigration for highly skilled foreign nationals.

MOST POPULAR WAYS TO MIGRATE TO THE UK

With profound knowledge of UK immigration policies, Y-Axis offers you expert guidance and counsels you on all necessary procedures and requirements to increase your chances of migrating to the UK from India.

Though there are many pathways for UK immigration, the most trusted and successful paths include:

• Migrate through Work Visa – UK skilled migration
• Migrate through Student Route
• Migrating through Family Visa
• Migrating through UK Business Visa
• Migrating through a UK Investor visa

The UK government urges skilled professionals to work in the UK under the Tier 2 visa program to gain a competitive edge. This program allows job seekers to check the occupations in the Tier 2 Shortage Occupation List and apply for them based on their eligibility criteria.

The most in-demand sectors include:

• IT
• Finance
• Teaching
• Healthcare
• Engineering

To apply for the skilled workers’ program in the UK, the applicant must gain a UK work permit.

Later, they need to apply for the Skilled Worker Visas if the candidates are offered skilled jobs in the UK. They should earn a minimum wage of £25,600 to apply for Skilled Worker Visas, or based on the occupations or the ‘ongoing rate.’

NEW UK IMMIGRATION POINTS-BASED ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

The UK launched the new UK immigration points-based system in January 2021. The eligibility criteria for the UK skilled migration depend on the ‘new points-based UK Visa system.’ It measures eligibility by taking into consideration various factors to assess candidates’ skills for the UK work visa.

The points scored based on the UK New Points-based System decide the eligibility for the work visa.

To qualify for the UK work visa, the candidate should score a minimum of 70 points. If the candidate has an approved job offer for a skilled job and can speak fluent English, she/he will be awarded 50 points.

The candidate can gain the remaining 20 points if the salary being offered is at least £25,600 per year. The candidates can earn extra points if they have higher qualifications:

• 10 points for a relevant PhD
• 20 points for a PhD in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM) disciplines
• 20 points for a job offer in the skill shortages stream
• Few jobs such as health or education will earn them 20 points even if their pay is less than £25,600

UK Skilled Worker Visa
The UK Skilled Worker Visa is what you need if you are a non-EU national as well as a skilled professional wanting to reside and be employed in the UK. This visa has replaced the earlier Tier 2 (General) Work Visa.

It has to be noted that if an EU national who is your relative has started to live in the UK before December 31, 2020, such a person can lodge an application to the free EU Settlement Scheme.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT:

• You must have a score of 70 points to qualify in the defined parameters like specific skills, qualifications, salaries and professions.
• You need to have a Minimum Bachelor’s degree or equivalent with 2 years of skilled work experience from the eligible occupations list
• You must have a job offer from a Home Office licensed sponsor
• The job offer must be at the required skill level – RQF 3 or above (A Level and equivalent)
• You must meet the English Language requirement at B1 level in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
• You should also meet the general salary threshold of £25,600 or the specific salary requirement for the occupation or the ‘going rate’.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED:

The following documents will be required at the time of applying for a UK Skilled Worker visa:

• The applicant’s Certificate of Sponsorship [CoS] reference number
• Proof of knowledge of the English language
• A valid passport [or other documents that establishes the applicant’s nationality and identity]
• Job title
• Annual salary
• Occupation code of the job
• Name of the employer
• The sponsor licence number of the employer

JOBS ON THE UK SHORTAGE OCCUPATION LIST [SOL]

If a candidate has their job on the SOL, they can be paid 80% of the “going rate” for their job in order to qualify for the UK Skilled Worker visa.

Healthcare and education occupations have a different shortage occupation list –

VISA FEE DETAILS

• Application Fees for stay up to 3 years – 610 pounds
• Application Fees for stay more than 3 years stay-1,220 pounds
• Application Fees if your job is in Shortage Occupation List for stay up to 3 years) – 464 pounds
• Application Fees (f job in Shortage Occupation List and you wish to stay for more than three years 928 pounds
• UK NARIC Fees 49.50 pounds
• UK NARIC – 140 Pounds + VAT 

Apart from the application fees you will have to pay a health surcharge of 624 pounds per year of stay when you apply which will be refunded in case your application is rejected

MIGRATE THROUGH STUDENT ROUTE

The UK is next only to the US as the most favored destination for foreign students. The UK is home to the best-ranked universities in the world, some of which make it to the top of the world university rankings.

Many sectors of higher education in the United Kingdom, such as engineering, business, management, art, design, and law, are among the best in the world.

Every year, more than 600,000 international students arrive in the country to pursue various academic programs, beginning from bachelor’s degrees to PhDs. The degrees that the UK higher educational institutions offer are recognized worldwide. Students who study in UK universities get an opportunity to develop competent skills and earn valuable knowledge.

Students can pursue post-graduate studies in most of the universities in the UK as some of them even promise sponsorship of Tier 4 visas. Obtaining a UK Student Visa helps you put your best foot forward, in terms of a brilliant career post your UK study.

The academic year in the UK lasts from September to July. Generally, universities and colleges in the UK have three intakes. Some of them might also refer to intake as a term.

The three intakes in the UK are:

Intake 1: Term 1 – Commencing in September/October, it is the major intake

Intake 2: Term 2 – The intake commencing in January/February is also available

Intake 3: Term 3 – Commencing in May/June, it is available for select courses.

UK family visas are a type of UK entry and residence authorizations that are granted to those who want to settle with their family members permanently in the UK.

UK FAMILY VISA

There are a few ways in which you can get a UK family visa:

• As a spouse or partner of a UK resident.
• As a parent of a UK resident.
• As a child of a UK resident.
• As a sick, disabled, or aged relative in need of long-term care from a UK resident.
• On the basis of private life.
• As a widowed partner of a former UK resident.
• As a separated spouse or partner.

UK INVESTMENT VISA

The UK Investment Visa is a Tier 1 visa, part of the UK Points Based System, offered to wealthy individuals who are willing to invest a minimum of £2 million in the UK. The higher the amount of money invested, the quicker the individual can apply for settlement and eventually obtains British citizenship.

For high-net-worth individuals wanting to settle in the UK, the following are the most suitable alternatives:

• Innovator visa
• Global talent visa
• Scale Up visa

HOW TO OBTAIN UK PR VISA?

UK permanent resident status provides any individual an opportunity to live and work in the UK indefinitely. Interested persons need to acquire this permit to work or carry out business in the UK, without any time limit on their stay or restrictions on immigration.

REQUIREMENTS FOR UK PR VISA

To get UK PR, one has to live in the UK for five years under one of the following categories:

• Tier 1
• Tier 2 of the points-based system: for the overseas skilled professionals who have valid job offers in the United Kingdom
• Businessperson
• Investor
• International students and Research fellows
• Representatives of a news agency, overseas newspaper, PR agency, or broadcasting organization
• The private servant in the household of a diplomat
• Domestic worker in a private household
• Overseas government employee
• The self-employed lawyer or solicitor
• UK ancestry
• Highly skilled migrants under the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP)
• Retired person of independent means
• The sole representative of an overseas firm
• One can also apply for UK PR if that individual has a family member or a partner who is a British citizen.

UK PR VISA FEE

It costs £2389 for an individual applicant by post. Application in person might cost slightly higher but the advantage of this method is that a decision is taken on the same day without a six-month wait.

LATEST IMMIGRATION NEWS

UK has become Indians favourite destination

Indian citizens have received around 103,000 work visas by the end of June 2022, which is a 148% increase compared to the previous year. Indians have been granted (46%) skilled work visas globally. India stands top in receiving work visas worldwide.

For more information, also read…

UK grants 118,000 study visas & 103,000 work visas to Indians in June 2022: 150% increase from 2021

New Scale Up visa system announced by UK Government
The UK introduces a new immigration program called the ‘new Scale Up visa system’ to boost innovative businesses in the country that are highly skilled and academic scholars. This way top talent is been encouraged.

For the candidates to be eligible for a Scale-Up visa, he/she requires a sponsor whereas the sponsor must also meet specific criteria to be eligible to sponsor the workers under scale-up.

Read more on…

A to Z guide on UK’s new Scale-up visa

All you need to know about super priority and priority visas

The UK Government has announced the priority and super priority visas over the regular visa to speed up the processing of regular student visas. The super priority visa costs around £800. This super priority price works over the regular student visa application fees and the decision will be out in a day. The priority visa costs an extra amount of £500. The decision will be out in five days.

For complete information, also read…

Get UK study visa in 24 hrs: All you need to know about priority visas

UK Home Office announced ‘NO Police verification required for international students’

The British authorities have done away with the rule of international students in UK to register with the local police officials. The United Kingdom has removed its directive for international students to submit their detail to the local police department.

Also read…

Police registration not needed for international students in UK

India’s BA, MA degrees get’s equal weightage to the UK

The MoU says Indian Senior Secondary School / Pre-University Certificates are treated suitable into the UK higher education institutions. The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will get signed by August 31 after the discussions are locked.

From now onwards, the Indian degrees as considered as equal to UK degrees. With those degree, the foreign applicants eligible for employment. With this step, 90% of foreign graduates will get benefited. The Bachelor and Masters degrees like BA, MA and Science graduates like BSc, MSc in India will be treated equivalent. Online courses will also be considered under this MoU.

Also read…

Indian degrees (BA, MA) to get equal weightage in the UK

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