If one plans to move to the UK, then there is a great news! The UK government has planned to make several changes to its travel and immigration policies. They have issued a statement as regards the new immigration rules that will be implemented as part of their ‘Plan for Growth’ measures. These will happen at the start of the year, 2023, as per the statement. The government has conveyed that the process of immigration is going to be digitised making it all the easier than before. The UK government also plans to introduce a contactless border crossing, which will commence in the year 2025 for all travellers who plan to enter the island country. There are several steps that the government is poised to take before implementing the processes, which will take its own due course of time. These steps will prove that if new age technology is implemented in complex processes like immigration, the procedures involved will be way simpler and way easier to track.
The Changes
The government is introducing a Permission to Travel scheme, which will provide a specific permission to enter UK. This will be compulsory for all travellers. Under this scheme, the government will expand access to the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) system for visa-exempt foreign nationals. Aside from that, eVisas will be issued to any foreign national who wishes to move to UK for studies or for work and for those seeking residence. Additionally, digital accounts will be created for such foreign nationals. The eGates programme will also see a rise, as the government plans to increase the number of travellers eligible for this. Biometric Residence Permits will also be issued at the end of 2024 or beginning 2025. The government will detail out the rules for each route in their website.
Recently Introduced – HPI VISA
Very recently, the UK government even introduced High Potential Individual (HPI) Visa which basically is targeted at the highly skilled graduates from the top foreign universities. They will be given permission to work and stay in the UK for a couple of years or more. They will be encouraged to even work as self-employed. This a perk for all those graduates who are talented students and have achieved top positions in their respective field of study. The list of these universities can be accessed in the UK government’s website, which list is likely to change every year.
Benefits Of These Changes
These new processes and key developments will see speeding up of the immigration steps. The delay in issuing visas will be taken care of now and will see a drop in the travel wait-times. Further, these steps will simply the cumbersome traditional processes. These will be phased out at different timings but will be done promptly as per the government’s strategical plans. The global business mobility will also see an increase in UK and the country will see a lot of international talents coming in and address the huge challenge of resource crunch in various fields.
As a first step, the government has already introduced a time frame for providing ETA options to citizens of many middle east nations like, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. This is a welcome change for these nations and the long queue for visas will be addressed effectively.
The Future
Digitisation processes have already begun and soon the other steps involving immigration permissions will see the upgraded revisions in the next few years. This wide array of changes will scale up the immigration process standards worldwide. This will also give hope to the global talent who wish to move to UK for residence or for work and make an identity for themselves there.
The Legal Base (TLB) – Your Immigration Service Partner
TLB’s accomplished immigration lawyers have already started making a checklist of all these new changes. They are keeping a track of all the new developments happening in this area and are helping law firms and immigration companies in guiding the clients suitably. The team is backed by a highly skilled tech team that follows the steps involving the new digitisation process and its implications.
If your are interested in our immigration services , please connect with us !
contact@thelegalbase.com
