1. National Health Service surcharge
This will apply to most visa applications with effect from April 6, 2015 where the applicant is applying to stay in the UK for six months or more. The cost is £200 per applicant (£150 for Tier 4 students) per year of the visa and is payable at the time of making the initial application. For example, a five-year Tier 2 visa would have a National Health Surcharge of £1,000. If there are family members also coming in on the same visa it will be an additional £1,000 per family member. It is important to note that this surcharge will apply even if private medical care or insurance is in place.
The surcharge does not apply to anyone applying for a visitor visa. However, non-EEA visitors will continue to be fully liable for the costs of any NHS treatment at the point they receive it.
2. Increase in fees for immigration applications
A number of applications are subject to a fee increase from April 6, 2015. UKVI has published a list of Home Office Immigration & Nationality Charges 2015/16, which can be found here.
3. Changes to the clearance application process for overseas applicants applying for a visa for six months or more from outside the UK
Successful applicants will be issued a temporary 30-day visa running from their notified date of travel. On arrival in the UK they will have 10 days to collect, from a specified Post Office location, a Biometric Identity Document (BID) which contains their visa. It will be important for migrants to ensure they collect their BID within 10 days of arrival to avoid incurring a penalty charge of £125.
This change is being phased in over several months from March 2015.
4. Tier 2
a) Updated minimum salary rates for Tier 2 applications from April 6, 2015:
Per-annum salary thresholds have been increased from between £300 and £1,800.
| Criteria | Current threshold | New threshold |
| Jobs which qualify for Tier 2 (General). | £20,500 | £20,800 |
| Jobs which are exempt from advertising in Jobcentre Plus (or JobCentre Online if the job is based in Northern Ireland). | £71,600 | £72,500 |
| Jobs which are exempt from the annual limit, the 12-month cooling-off period and the Resident Labour Market Test. | £153,500 | £155,300 |
| Jobs which qualify for the Short-Term Staff, Skills Transfer or Graduate Trainee categories (maximum stay either six months or one year). | £24,500 | £24,800 |
b) With effect from April 6, 2015, removal of the 12-month cooling off period for Tier 2 visas issued for up to three months:
This is good news in that it will (i) enable interns to be sponsored and brought back to the UK for a permanent job within a one-year period; and (ii) benefit global businesses that need to send employees to the UK for short time periods.
5. Visitor visa routes reduced from 15 to four
UKVI has redesigned the visitor routes so that there are four: visitor (standard); visitor for marriage or civil partnerships; visitor for permitted paid engagements; and transit visitor. The change applies to all applications made on or after April 24, 2015.
The visitor (standard) route consolidates the following existing routes: general, business, child, sport, entertainer, visitors for private medical treatment, visitors under the Approved Destination Status (ADS) Agreement with China, prospective entrepreneur, and visitors undertaking clinical attachments, the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test and the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE).
6. Removal of some test providers for language tests
There are now only two providers on the list. They replace the current providers from April 6, 2015. The two new test providers are:
- Trinity College London (for customers applying in the UK only).
- IELTS SELT Consortia (for visa customers applying outside or inside the UK).
Tests taken on or before April 5, 2015 with old providers will remain valid until November 5, 2015. Tests taken with old providers from April 6 will not be acceptable with a visa application.
7. Amending the Shortage Occupation List
Changes are being made to the Shortage Occupation List, following a partial review by the independent Migration Advisory Committee. Jobs on the list are exempt from the Resident Labour Market Test and are given higher priority within the Tier 2 (General) annual limit. The new list is valid from April 6, 2015. The list amends the applicable graduate occupations in the health sector, makes changes to roles in the energy industry and reclassifies some existing entries.
