Archived Articles

On 19 April 2007 a number of changes to the rules on students visiting the UK will come into effect. The changes will mean that people intending to study in the UK need to obtain entry clearance (a visa) before they travel.

CARICOM (the Caribbean Community) is requiring all applicants who need a visa to obtain a special visa to visit the region between 15 January and 15 May 2007. This affects those who need a visa to travel to the following countries: Antigua and Barbuda; Jamaica; Grenada; St. Vincent and The Grenadines; Dominica; Barbados; St. Kitts and Nevis; Guyana; Trinidad and Tobago, and Saint Lucia.

The Home Office and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office have launched a consultation document for changes in the way immigration and nationality applications are charged.

At present the Immigration & Nationality Directorate (IND), run by the Home Office and UKvisas, run by the Home Office and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, both use different structures to charge applicants. The government is implementing a policy whereby the administration of migration into the UK should be self-financing by 2008. Over the past number of years the costs of applications has increased considerably.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated its 'Visa section closures and restrictions' section on the Ukvisas website, as follows. Please note that the information below is produced by Ukvisas and is correct on 23 October 2006.

The Sofia News Agency has reported that the UK may soon remove all visa requirements for Bulgarian nationals.

UK Member of Parliament Mike Gapes has met with the Bulgarian authorities in Sofia. including Prime Minister Stanishev.

The Court of Appeal has overturned a decision of the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal (‘AIT), that human rights cannot be considered in an appeal against refusal to vary a person’s leave to remain – JM (Rule 62(7); human rights unarguable) Liberia [2006] UKAIT 00009 (please note this is the reference of the case before the AIT and not the Court of Appeal).

The Home Secretary John Reid, the man in overall responsibility of UK immigration policy, has indicted that the government will in the future consider the impact on public services, such as schools and hospitals, when considering immigration policy.

More than 300,000 nationals of Moldova have applied for Romanian passports, in the run-up to Romania joining the European Union in January 2007.

Romania has an agreement with Moldova that it will give Romanian citizenship to Moldavians who have a Romania parent or grandparent. There are no plans at present to admit Moldova, Europe's poorest country, to the European Union, so many of its citizens are taking advantage of the agreement with Romania.

The Refugee or Person in Need of International Protection (Qualification) Regulations 2006 will soon come into force on 9 October 2006.

The Regulations implement into UK law the European Union Council \'Directive on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection?.

The Home Office has again started processing Certificate of Approval (COA) applications that would have failed under the previous Home Office guidance.

The requirement to obtain a COA for couples who wished to marry or enter into a civil partnership where one or both parties is not settled in the UK was introduced in the Asylum & Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004. However if the couple were to marry in the Anglican Church (Church of England), then a COA is not required.