In Layman’s Terms...

Understand the Points — Based System/h1>

Welcome to UK Migration Lawyers

This law has been substantially changed in the last couple of years. A new points-based system was introduced in 2008 and now people outside the UK can apply for visas in five categories known as the 5-tier system. We’ve prepared some examples to explain the Points-Based System and the 5 Tiers under the new law.

Work in the UK!

More than 200.000 workers are granted a visa permit to work in the UK every year. A list of critical skills specifies the kind of workers in high demand. Immigrant workers who can prove they have these hard-to-find skills have greater chances of being granted a leave to remain in the country.

For 2009, the shortage list of skilled workers includes professions and occupations like:

• Health care — almost any kind of specialists, from Anaesthetists to Urologists, as wells as doctors, dentists,
  and registered nurses and midwives.
• Engineering — includes aircraft, railway, bridge, transportation, highway and ground engineers.
• Actuaries 
• Teachers — for any post related to compulsory schooling.
• Veterinary Surgeons
• Social Workers

Tier-2 visas, for example, are granted to people who have a job offer and fall in one of the four categories:

• Ministers of Religion — this category contemplates missionaries, ministers, and members of religious orders who come to the UK to fill vacancies.
• Sports people — a category reserved for coaches and elite sportspersons at the highest level.
• Intra-company transfer — when an overseas employer transfers a skilled employee to a branch in the UK
• General — for other job offers not filled by UK workers.

Occupations and job titles included in the UK National Shortage List under Tier 2 of the new immigration UK law are:

• Project Managers in construction
• biological scientists
• psychologists
• pharmacists
• ballet dancers
• and chefs
  
  

Score ‘Em Points

To understand the points-based system according to immigration to UK law, an example should suffice.

 Let’s suppose you are a highly-skilled worker and have earned at least a bachelor’s degree. You wish to apply for a visa under the Tier 1 (General) category from outside the UK. If you can demonstrate that you had a good income in your country of origin and that you can understand written and spoken English, you won’t need any sponsorship or job offer from an employer. 

You must, however, get at least a score of 75 points. Let’s see how.

• Bank Statements. Let’s say you can show you had £2,800 in a bank account during all the three months prior to your visa application. You’ve scored ten points.
• Degrees. Since you earned a bachelor’s degree, you score 30 points. Add 5 more if you’ve also got a master’s or 20 more if you are a PhD.
• Age. Under 28 years old, you score 20 points, but only 5 points if you are 30.
• Earnings. Previous earnings of £30,000 per year will add 30 points to your total score; you get only 5 points if your income was between £16,000 and £18,000. 
• English. Let’s say you come from an English-speaking country in the Caribbean: You already have 10 more points. If English is not your mother tongue, demonstrate you speak the language and you’ll add those 10 points. You can show proficiency, for instance, with a 6.5 score in IELTS. Or you may show you earned an English-taught degree.

The points-based system also applies to visa extension applications. To extend your permission to stay in the UK, you must score 75 points under this law.

Find the right category!

There are many other routes of entry to the United Kingdom contemplated in the new law. How do you find out which one applies to your situation?

Answer: Check out every visa category and answer the online questionnaires provided in UKMigrationLawyers.co.uk.

We’ve designed the questionnaires as an orientation; answer two or three questions and you’ll get an idea of whether or not you can apply for a particular visa under tiers 1 – 5. Find them in the left navigation box under the appropriate visa category and save time and reduce consultation fees.  

Make sure you comply with UK immigration law. Get advice from a UK immigration lawyer!

And above all... don’t risk your chances of obtaining a leave to remain in the UK or a work visa trying to figure everything out by yourself. This law is a complex issue, that’s what immigration law firms and UK immigration lawyers are for.YOUR FUTURE is at stake!