Out with the old and in with the new. Not so much so as disregarding the immigration rules completely but to make them shorter and easier to understand.
On 31st January 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) exited the European Union; with the intention to take back the reins of our boarders. So, from 40 pages to 1100 pages of lengthy Immigrations rules that have expanded over the decades failing to adhere in addressing the needs of the UK citizens. The shorter simplified manner; could in fact be a turning point for immigration law.
From 1ST January 2021, the introduction of the simplified Immigration Bill would eliminate free movement with a more firm and fair points-based system in place that will benefit the UK’s economy, communities and public services. This will hope to attract higher skilled workers and greater talents; rather than having the attention on where the individuals from. It would also mean the UK boarders would have tighter security hold which would allow better service to be delivered to applicants who are intending to come to the UK.
The Immigration Act 1971 is commonly known to be ‘overly complex and unworkable’ with the continuous drafting updates and complexity of the rules – resulting to more time being wasted and the costs of tax payers money. The simplified immigration rules are said to increase transparent outcomes for applicants as well as enable Home Office case workers to effectively deal with matters.
The Law commission states that “applicants are unrepresented and are struggling to understand the proceedings.” Thus, the simplified rules would be considered a necessity in easing the burden.
So how does the new immigration system work?
The new immigration rules eligibility requirement is 70 points for applicants to apply for a visa.
It is further broken down to 3 key set of requirements equalling to 50 points. Which are as follow; to have a job offer from an approved sponsor, such as an employer cleared by the Home Office (20 points), the job offer is at a “required skill level” (20 points) and lastly the individual must be able to speak B1 level of English to enable them to carryout everyday domestic or work related tasks (10 points). Further points are allocated to equal 70 points on the following characteristics such as specific skills, qualifications and salaries.
This system is believed to save over £70m over the next decade whilst still allowing migrants in the UK to work, study, visit or join their families.
There is a noticeable pitfall that has mainly been criticised solely in relation to the new points-based system not focusing on skilled or temporary worker routes but more on the highly skilled workers. To which it highlights the development of the economy in seeking cheaper labour from Europe would no longer be the case, this will result as a detriment to businesses (losing out on trade) as employers would face further cost implications when recruiting from overseas and administrating applicant’s visas. However, with these new rules it would simply mean employers would just have to adjust for the greater good.
By way of simplifying the immigration rules, it would remove the backlog from the Home office and focus more on the betterment of the economy.
For more information on the UKs point- based system: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uks-points-based-immigration-system-policy-statement/the-uks-points-based-immigration-system-policy-statement.
