Immigration news

Access to the US L1 visa is getting harder as the USCIS scrutinizes cases more than ever before. Canadian business executives have also been hit by recent restrictions to the L1 visa programme. As reported by workpermit.com in September, a pilot system introduced earlier this year meant that some Canadians no longer used on-the-spot L1 visa processing.  Now it seems that slower visa processing could be something that becomes long term for Canadians.

Shortly after Donald Trump signed the ‘Buy American, Hire American’ presidential executive order on April 18, 2018, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began to increase the number of Requests for Evidence (RFEs) and denials for H1B visa petitions, according to new evidence released by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP).   There is also a similar situation for L1 visa petitions including both L1A visa and L1B visa applications.

Following the latest Tier 2 visa allocation of restricted certificates of sponsorship meeting, the number of Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) available for December 2018 stands at 2,213, according to UK Visas and Immigration data. The department published its November report, citing that its figures were correct as of 19 November, 2018.

Infamous English Defence League (EDL) founder, Tommy Robinson, has failed to get a US visa following a US Congress invite to meet with Republican lawmakers. As recently reported by Workpermit.com, Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – was rumoured to net a possible £1 million for his visit to the USA.

Amid an increasing number of bad UK visa decisions being overturned following media exposure, the Home Office is being accused of operating in a ‘continuous state of disaster management.’

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) have announced the opening of new, modernised and more efficient visa and citizenship application centres.  This should help Tier 2 visa applicants and their Tier 2 employer sponsors. The first centre, opened in Manchester on Friday, 9 November 2018, will be followed by new centres in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon and Glasgow.