Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules, 26 February 2015
On 26 February 2015 The Home Office put forward a new statement of changes in immigration rules to Parliament. The main changes will be the following ones:
- Consolidate and clarify the Immigration Rules for visitors, by streamlining 15 visitor routes down to four: visitor (standard); visitor for marriage or civil partnership; visitor for permitted paid engagements and transit visitor;
- Introduction a requirement for prospective Tier 1 (Investor) Migrants to open a UK-regulated investment account before making an initial application;
- Applying a “genuine entrepreneur” test to Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) extension and indefinite leave to remain applications;
- Showing the source of money for Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa applicants if the money was not in their account for three months;
- Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) applicants must include their business plan for initial applications;
- Enable caseworkers to require persons present in the UK with limited leave to provide evidence and/or attend an interview in order to demonstrate that they continue to meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules;
- Ensure that Overseas Domestic Workers have contracts that meet UK employment laws and that they will be paid in accordance with the National Minimum Wage Regulations;
- Closing the Tier 1 (General) category for extension applications, and restrict the ability of Tier 1 (General) Migrants to switch into the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category.