As of October 15th, this year, the Nationality and Borders Bill announced that the Home Secretary will be granted new powers to impose visa penalties on countries that refuse to take back illegal immigrants in the UK. It is advised that you consult with a UK visa consultant in Dubai especially if you have plans in migrating to the UK.These penalties hopefully incentivise countries to help the UK government clean up illegal immigrants in their country. Visa penalties include:

  • Entire visa suspension for countries that do not cooperate with deportations of illegal immigrants
  • Adding a £190 surcharge on applications to come to the UK or increasing visa processing times.

This measure was done in aid of preventing dangerous and illegal journeys in the UK and exploitation of these immigrants by criminal gangs.

In addition to stricter penalties, changes were made to the Early Removal Scheme. Under these changes, foreign national criminals will now be eligible for removal up to 12 months before the end of their custodial sentence, as opposed to nine months.Other changes include the following:

  • Changes to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997: Immigration decisions that involve sensitive information can be heard by a court that specialises in protecting sensitive information
  • Expansion of the types of claims that can be dealt with in an accelerated appeal from detention. With this expansion, it is expected that court hearings are going to be sped up that those in detention will no longer have to be released to the community before a sentence is handed down. This will apply to foreign national criminals.

Other expected government amendments will be discussed by the Parliament in the coming weeks. These include:

  • Implementing a better approach to age assessment so that children identification for those seeking asylum gets better and adults can stop accessing children’s services
  • Establishment of an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) Scheme to help secure the border. Once implemented, travel carriers will need to check that all passengers (except British and Irish citizens) have a digital authorisation or some other form of permission before they can travel to the UK.

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Alpha Future Migration Consultancy is a dynamic full-service immigration consultancy specializing in UK and European immigration. Our expert and highly-qualified team of UK immigration consultants in Dubai and associate partners have years of experience in dealing with complex immigration cases. Contact us today.