Tier 1 Application Limit Reached for December 2010

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has announced that theTier 1 application limit (Immigration cap) for December 2010 has now been reached and no more applications will be processed until January 2011. If you are considering applying under Tier 1 General your last chance to apply may be in January 2011 as (1) Tier 1 General will be abolished in April 2011, AND (2) there is already a backlog of cases that the UKBA will look to casework before addressing any newly submitted applications.

On the UK Border Agency’s website the following announcement was made ‘’On 19 July 2010, the UK government introduced a limit on the number of UK Visa applications that can be issued under Tier 1 (General) of the points-based system until 31 March 2011. The limit does not affect applications from dependents or applications to switch into Tier 1 (General) from a different immigration category, or applications to extend to existing Tier 1 (General) visas. The limit is administered on a monthly basis, and as the December allocation has been reached the department will not issue any more visas under Tier 1 (General) applications made overseas until allocation reopens in January 2011. If you are applying under Tier 1 (General) from overseas you can still submit an application for Tier 1 (General) during this closure period but if your application is successful the visa will not be issued until the limit re-opens.”

If you believe that you qualify under Tier 1 General please contact us immediately for a professional assessment of your case. In April 2011 Tier 1 General will be abolished and stricter Immigration Controls will be introduced which will make it far more difficult to apply for a work visa in the United Kingdom. At the present time Commonwealth Contractors has a range of solutions which allow highly skilled and skilled workers from outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) to work in the UK however the number of options will be reduced in April 2011 (with the abolition of Tier 1 General).

Tier 1 changes in April 2011

• Tier 1 General: The ‘General’ subcategory of Tier 1 will be closed all together
• Tier 1 (Entrepreneur):  The ‘Entrepreneur’ sub category of Tier 1 will be reformed to make it more attractive to international Entrepreneurs. Promising start up companies which do not meet the investment threshold will be offered an route to doing business in the UK. This Immigration route will not be subject to the Permanent Immigration Cap
• Tier 1 (Investor): The ‘Investor’ subcategory will be reformed to offer an ‘accelerated route to settlement, depending on the level of investment’. This Immigration route will not be subject to the Permanent Immigration Cap
• A new route for Persons of Exceptional Talent: A new Immigration route will be introduced for persons of exceptional talent (the old HSMP route used to include points for such people). This category will be limited to 1,000 places and will be for those migrants who have ‘won international recognition in scientific and cultural fields, or who show sufficient exceptional promise to be awarded such recognition in the future’. Migrants applying under this category will need to be endorsed by a competent body in the relevant field.

Commonwealth Contractors

Commonwealth Contractors is a collection of highly skilled professionals from the Commonwealth and beyond. We partner with OISC Registered Immigration Partners capable of professionally representing a Tier 1 Visa Application / Extension and Tier 2 Licensed Consultancy & Associated Trust Partners who may be prepared, where required, to sponsor a doctor on a Tier 2 Visa (formerly UK Work Permit). Commonwealth Contractors also provides updates on UK Immigration News.

To find out more call Commonwealth Contractors now on 0330 390 9021 or Submit your Details and we will get back to you. Please be prepared to send a copy of a recent CV so that we can pass to interested partner