The UK Border Agency has made some sweeping changes for student applications under Tier 4 of the points-based system. These are as follows:
A Tier 4 (General) applicant will now need to show that their English language skills are at CEFR level B1 or above before they can apply to study an English language course in the UK, subject to certain exceptions.
The Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) report which was published on 4 December 2009 has recommended some sweeping changes to the Tier 1 category of the points based system.
Regarding the Tier 1 (General) route for highly skilled workers, the MAC's recommendations include:
the salary multipliers used to convert previous earnings outside the UK into a UK equivalent should be rapidly and thoroughly reviewed;
migrants with a bachelor's degree but no master's degree should be allowed to come to the UK under Tier 1 (General), if their previous earnings are high enough;
The UK Border Agency has today laid regulations in Parliament for the fees for immigration and nationality services that are set at levels at or below the normal administrative costs of the service. Details of the fees are set out in a written ministerial statement by Phil Woolas, which can be downloaded from the UK Border Agency website.
