This might not hold importance for people who do not have immediate plans to immigrate to the United Kingdom, but yes, the announcement made by the UK Border Agency is utmost important for those immigrants who are already in the country, as well as for those who are preparing to be in the country shortly. Since UKBA has stopped accepting offshore applications for Tier 1 (General) Visa from towards the end of December, it seems the only way to apply for the visa is to applying from within the UK.
Recently, UK Border Agency declared that the provision of filing onshore petitions for the Tier 1 (General) Visa is going to be in place till March 2011. In other words, if UK immigrants who are already in the country wish to apply for the Tier 1 Visa and extend their stay in the UK, then they have fewer than 90 days until March end in hands to apply for the same.
Concerning those who will be in the UK very soon and if they are expecting to obtain a Tier1 Visa to extend their stay in the country, this is the high time that they start their preparation for filing applications before the provision gets exhausted in April 2011. This could be the last chance for people who do not have a UK employment offer in hand to avail the popular points-based immigration route. Tier 1 (General) Visa category is the sole tier immigration system under the UK Points-based System that does not require overseas nationals to have a job offer to file applications.
Starting April 2011, the UK government is going replace the Tier 1 (General) immigration category with ‘Exceptionally Talent’ Visa category and it is anticipated to be a difficult route to be in the UK. Because, with the elimination of the former, it may become harder for UK immigrants to extend their stay in the country on the basis of just skills and work experience minus an employment offer from a UK employer.
Thus, along with those who are already in the UK under different immigration categories, such as Tier 2 Visa; Tier 4 Visa and Highly Skilled Migrant Program or other, people who are looking to immigrate to the country shortly and apply for onshore Tier 1 Visa for longer stay must make a move in no time. For assistance on this and free-of-charge assessment for immigration to the UK, mail your profile to ajay@abhinav.com
