New changes to UK immigration rules

New changes to UK immigration rules

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• Taffy Nyawanza: Immigration options for victims of domestic violence

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• Taffy Nyawanza: The right to family life

• Taffy Nyawanza: New UK changes to managed migration

• Taffy Nyawanza: UK immigration rules on marriage, domestic servants

• Taffy Nyawanza: Switching from work permit to indefinite stay

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By Taffy Nyawanza

CHANGES to UK immigration rules and policies change as often and as fast as the fickle English weather.

This March 2006, the Home Office announced yet another raft of changes. They include changes to the provisions for the Science and Engineering Graduates scheme (SEGS), the Postgraduate Doctors and Dentists category, as well as changes which now prevent non-visa nationals in the UK as visitors from switching into the student category for courses above degree level.

The Science and Engineering Graduates Scheme (SEGS) has been widened following the Chancellor's Pre Budget Report published on 5 December 2005 which included the announcement of a provision to "allow all international students on completion of a postgraduate degree, or an undergraduate degree in a shortage sector, to work in the UK for up to 12 months". The SEGS category in the Immigration Rules has been updated to apply to all Master's degree and PhD students commencing their studies in the UK on or after 1 May 2006. They will be eligible to apply for SEGS regardless of the subject they have studied. Thereafter, they will be able to switch into other longer term immigration categories such as the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) and the Work Permit category to continue to work in the UK beyond the 12 months of the SEGS.

The UK government’s position is that this new provision is part of measures to make the UK a more attractive study destination and to encourage more international students to come to the UK to study. Prior to these changes, SEGS already enabled overseas students awarded an undergraduate degree (at 2:2 or above), Master's degree or PhD in a subject approved by the Department for Education and Skills for the purposes of this scheme to work in the UK for up to 12 months after their studies.

This is a welcome expansion. It adds to the options that foreign graduates currently have. The scheme is particularly attractive in that there is no requirement to have a job offer at the time of the application. Indeed, an applicant will still need to satisfy the Home Office that they can support and accommodate themselves without recourse to public funds. This is a hurdle that many students will willingly confront. The only shortcoming of this scheme to my mind is that it is restricted to post-graduate students, (and undergraduates in shortage sectors only). I fail to see any justification for the dichotomy.

Going on, there has also been an amendment to the current Postgraduate Doctor and Dentist category which has been in place for some considerable time now. Before the current changes, this category enabled overseas doctors and dentists to come to the UK to train for long periods. For doctors and dentists in non-training posts, the usual employment provisions applied ie, they needed work permits or such other employment mechanisms.

The UK government has now reviewed the position of doctors and dentists and training grades in the NHS are now considered as employment categories and hence no longer automatically exempt from work permit regulations. It states that this is in light of the changes in the needs and the structure of the health service and medical training programmes. Apparently, the UK has now trained enough of its own natives, meaning that there are now more UK graduates seeking relevant training posts. There is therefore no longer a need for a specific category in the Immigration Rules to enable doctors and dentists who are overseas nationals to train in the UK for many years.

Effectively, these changes mean that only those doctors and dentists who have completed their medical or dental studies in the UK will be eligible for leave as a Postgraduate Doctor or Dentist. But even then, they will only be granted leave to remain in order to complete their two year Foundation Programme, after which they will have to hope for a work permit, or to switch into leave as a Person Intending to Establish Themselves in Business, like everybody else.

By way of clarification, the UK government states that overseas doctors and dentists will still be able to train in the UK, but they will be considered to be in employment for immigration purposes and will need to meet the relevant requirements of the Immigration Rules, such as the work permit system.

The rules for postgraduate doctors and dentists have also been amended to clarify that applicants need not have completed their medical or dental degree in the 12 months preceding their application, if they are applying for leave to enter and have previously been granted leave in this category.

My understanding is that these changes have caused panic among medical and dentistry students who will now have to compete for places and work permits for the first time. Some Health authorities have sent out circulars which state that from 7 March 2006, they will only recruit doctors and dentists from the UK and the EEA before recruiting migrant doctors and dentists from outside EEA countries, unless if there are posts available and no doctor or dentist with permanent residence in this country is able to take up the post. The panic is easy to understand because the regime of “permit free training” which was available for overseas doctors generally made life easier for foreign medical students in the UK.

The reality however is that the UK health profession remains a critical skills shortage area. Work permits may therefore prove to be as available as they have always been for nurses and allied health professionals. In any event, the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) remains a real option for medical personnel generally and has the added attraction of being non-employer specific.

Finally, all students (whether from countries that require visas to enter the UK and those that do not), will now need to have student visas if they intend to remain in that category. The position of the UK government is that this change has been necessitated by the continuing need to moderate abuse in the student route, particularly in the switching arrangements. The Home Office has categorically stated that it is publicly committed to introducing mandatory entry clearance for students as part of the coming points-based system for managed migration in order to decrease opportunities for abuse and regularise the routes by which students enter the UK.

Previously, students from countries that do not require visas who were admitted to the UK as visitors could switch to become students if they had been accepted on a course of degree level or above. All other visitors (visa nationals, and non-visa nationals accepted for courses below degree level) were prohibited from switching to the student category without having the necessary entry clearance.

This change removes the more favourable Rules for non-visa national visitors who have been accepted for courses of degree level or above, so that they too must have entry clearance as a student or prospective student before they will be allowed to switch into the student category.

In terms of the announcement, non-visa nationals who were granted leave to enter as a visitor before 1 July 2006 will not be subject to this Rules change and will continue to enjoy the same rights as before. Non-visa nationals who are already in the UK in a capacity which is not a visitor will still be able to switch into the student category without requiring entry clearance as a student or prospective student, subject to having been accepted on a course of study of degree-level or above.

As discussed on this column previously, these changes are a precursor of many things to come. 2006 will see vast changes to the current immigration regime. We shall keep you updated as they happen.