New application fees effective from 18 March 2016
In January, the Home Office introduced legislation to set the maximum amounts it can charge for visa, immigration and nationality applications over the next 4 years. This legislation is now in force.
The new legislation will come into effect on 18 March (6 April for the Isle of Man).
The main changes are:
visas linked most closely to economic growth, such as those offered to workers and students, will be increased by 2%
a 2% increase will apply to all visit visas to help maintain the UK’s position as one of the world’s top tourist destinations
an increase of up to 25% will apply to settlement, residence and nationality fees, as these routes deliver the most benefits to successful applicants
an increase of up to 33% for optional premium services offered by the Home Office such as the super premium service and priority visa services overseas
Fees for all sponsorship categories will be held at the current rates.
These changes ensure that the Home Office can achieve a self-funding system, whilst continuing to provide a competitive level of service, and a fees structure that remains attractive to businesses, migrants and visitors.
A full list of the new fees can be found in the fees table.
Current fees will continue to apply to applications submitted prior to 18 March. Please note that applications for naturalisation or registration as a British citizen will need to be received by the Home Office prior to 18 March for the current fee to apply. For all other applications the relevant date will be the date that the application is submitted.
The increase in some of the fees charged is likely to lead to a rush of applications prior to the 18 March date which may then have an impact on processing time of applications.
Biometric Residence Permits: What you need to know
Do you need a biometric residence permit?
All visa holders who wish to stay in the UK for more than six months must now obtain a Biometric Residence Permit (BRP). This is an important document which provides proof of the migrant’s permission to stay, work or study in the UK, how long they are permitted to remain in the UK and any conditions attached to their stay.
Employers have a responsibility to check the entitlement of prospective employees to work in the UK. An employer of an illegal worker who has not carried out the correct checks faces a penalty of up to £20,000. Furthermore, it is a criminal offence for an employer to knowingly employ an illegal worker. If convicted, such employers can face an unlimited fine and up to two years in prison. Checking the entitlement to work of every single one of your employees is, therefore, crucial in order to establish a statutory defence against the imposition of any such financial or even criminal penalties.
So here’s what you need to know about the Biometric Residency Permit:
Once a migrant’s visa application is successful, they will receive a 30-day travel visa in their passport. They then must travel to the UK within this period or the travel visa will expire, in which case they will need to apply for another and pay another fee. Within 10 days of arrival in the UK, the migrant will then have to collect the BRP from the Post Office which they designated in their application.
The holder is not required to carry their permit with them at all times but must show it at the border, along with their passport, when travelling outside of and returning to the UK.
If an employee needs to start work prior to picking up their BRP from the Post Office, they will be able to temporarily evidence their right to work by showing their employer the short-validity visa in their passport. However, after the expiration of the 30-day visa, the migrant must collect their BRP. Once the migrant has collected their BRP, the employer must once again check this to confirm that the employee does, in fact, have the right to work in the UK.
The BRP’s design is set by European Union regulation. It contains a chip which, in turn, contains the biometric information, which includes scans of all fingerprints and a digital photograph. It also contains information such as the migrant’s name, date of birth, expiry date (the last date of the period for which the migrant is allowed to stay in the UK or five or 10 years if the holder has been given indefinite leave to remain) and the type of permit (the holder’s immigration category, such as student).
The BRP has various security features. For example, the back has a raised design incorporating the four national flowers of the UK, visible by shining a light across the permit. It also contains the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s “chip inside” symbol, which is printed using optically-variable ink. These safety features can seem quite advanced but there are also quite simple physical checks that an employer can carry out. For example:
as it is made entirely from polycarbonate, it will have a distinctive sound when flicked. It should not be bent or folded, as this is likely to cause it to break;
check that your employee looks like the photograph on the card;
check that the expiry date has not passed;
check that the date of birth is consistent with the appearance of the employee (this can be tricky!);
check any UK endorsements to see if the migrant is actually permitted to do the type of work that you are offering for the period of time and hours that you expect;
check the permit number, which is on the front of the permit in the top right-hand corner – it should start with two letters followed by seven numbers. The permit number should not be raised.
If you still have concerns having checked the BRP, you can check the migrant’s right to work by requesting a right to work check through the Home Office website. This Employer Checking Service also allows employers to check the status of an individual who cannot supply the mandatory documents to prove a right to work because that individual has an outstanding application or appeal with the Home Office. Undertaking right to work checks may not be as tricky as you might think and the BRP is, in the long run, aimed at simplifying the process for migrants and employers alike.
Comprehensive Sickness Insurance: what is it, and who needs it?
You are here: Home / EU Free Movement / Comprehensive Sickness Insurance: what is it, and who needs it?
If you are an EU citizen or their family member and you would like to live in the UK, you have to meet certain requirements. These requirements depend on the status of the EU citizen: is he or she a worker, a student, etc? Two of these categories require the EU citizen to hold what is unhelpfully called Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (often abbreviated to CSI).
Who needs Comprehensive Sickness Insurance to enter or stay in the UK?
The answer to this question is governed by the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, which was updated on this very point in 2015. For further information on the changes, please see this guidance note on the changes.
You will need this if you are a student or someone not working nor seeking work – that is, a self-sufficient person. You will also need it if you are in the UK in your position as a family member (EU or non-EU) of a student or self-sufficient person. It seems to not matter whether it is the EU national or the family member who holds the comprehensive sickness insurance, so long as it covers the family member.
Example
Bob, a student from Greece, and Marcia, his wife from America, look to enter the UK so that Bob can complete his Masters while Marcia works. The easiest way for them to enter the UK without the need for a visa is for Marcia to enter as Bob’s family member. This means that her status will hinge on Bob’s. As he is a student, he will need comprehensive sickness insurance and sufficient funds to ensure that he does not become a burden on state resources. Marcia will need the same. This may be either in her name or in Bob’s.
If Bob and Marcia want to travel abroad without being stopped and questioned by the UK immigration authorities on return it may be wise for them to obtain registration certificates showing their immigration status. Note that this costs £65 each, and Marcia as a non EEA national would need to pay £19.20 for her biometric details to be taken as part of the application. Bob would apply as a “qualified person” (that is, he is qualified to enter the UK as a student) and Marcia would apply as a family member. Here (EEA QP) is the form for Bob, and here (EEA FM) for Marcia.
Note that if Bob became a worker by taking up part time remunerated work (10 hours per week is a rough guide to prevent the work from becoming purely marginal and ancillary), neither he nor Marcia would need comprehensive sickness insurance. This will, for many students, be the easiest way of solving the problem, but others may not find themselves with the time.
If Marcia were from Germany rather than America then as a worker she would not need CSI, and nor would Bob as he would arrive as her family member.
What is Comprehensive Sickness Insurance?
Both lawyers and non-lawyers have found the level at which sickness insurance becomes “comprehensive” to be somewhat of a mystery. The Government parses this as “full health insurance”, which raises the question of what “full” is to mean. So this is of little help.
Clearly ‘comprehensive’ refers to a level of health insurance that needs to be acquired. By looking both at the aim of the legislation, and the legislation itself, we should be able to shed some light on this elusive concept.
The Guide to Supporting Documents on the EEA (QP) form is a helpful place to start. First, this document makes clear that access to the NHS does not count. This interpretation has been given backing by the Court of Appeal in Ahmad v SSHD. The ratio (the point of law decided) of this case is that the NHS does not qualify as comprehensive sickness insurance.
Furthermore, the form states that you can only use your EHIC as evidence of comprehensive sickness insurance if you make a declaration that you do not intend to stay in the UK permanently. This may be helpful for some, but many would rather the flexibility to stay permanently if opportunities in the UK come their way. It is an interesting question whether such a declaration could be enforced if someone did decide to stay in the end.
As it happens, the nature of the option to use your EHIC in place of private medical insurance is slightly different from what the form says. In actual fact, you should be able to use your EHIC in place of private medical insurance if it would actually cover you. That is to say, the EHIC exists because of multilateral agreements between EU countries, which mean that the cost of medical care in the host state can be recovered from the state of origin so long as that person is entitled to healthcare in that state. In Ahmad v SSHD, the leading Court of Appeal case on the issue, it was common ground that the EHIC would have been sufficient if the claimant’s wife could prove that she had the right to healthcare in Denmark.
However, if you would rather not run into legal wrangles which may end against you, stick to the private health insurance. So what level of cover should you choose? Here is the most confusing section, because the answer is both unclear and contested. The starting point should be the aim of the provisions in question. This aim, as will become clear, is that self-sufficient persons and students should not become unreasonable burdens on state resources – or, as the Supreme Court put it in the very recent case of Mirga v SSWP, “economically inactive Union citizens using the host member state’s welfare system to fund their means of subsistence”.
There are broadly two schools of thought on the level of health insurance one should get: the first suggest that no insurance is comprehensive unless it covers everything; if it misses something out, however small or inconsequential, it cannot after all be comprehensive. They rely on the strict linguistic meaning of the word ‘comprehensive’. The second say that ‘comprehensive’ indicates a level of insurance that is consistent with some of the highest available levels of cover available, but not necessarily the highest possible level available. That is to say, it should cover everything that one would expect a reasonably complete policy to cover, but not absolutely everything one can think of.
The Guide to Supporting Documents on the Qualified Persons form helps us discern which interpretation is correct. It suggests that the insurance should “cover you (and your family members if applicable) for the majority of risks while you are in the UK”. This suggests that there may be gaps allowed; after all, it does not say “all risks”.
It will be a question of fact whether this bar in an individual case has been met. For instance, in the case of Baumbast a lack of cover for emergency treatment given in the UK meant that his health insurance was not comprehensive. Note however that because Mr Baumbast and his family had never relied on state resources, the slight shortfall in his health insurance could not undermine his right to reside, as this would be disproportionate in the context of Mr Baumbast’s and his family’s individual circumstances.
This does not mean everyone will agree, as a cautionary tale from personal experience will tell: I once observed a case where the Home Office successfully argued at first-tier tribunal level that ‘comprehensive’ referred to so high a level of cover that no provider in the UK offers it, and so no-one could possibly satisfy such a criterion. While this surely cannot be correct, it is a view that has some traction – so take risks on the completeness of your health insurance at your peril.
So some final words of advice: if you cannot work, thereby avoiding the requirement of comprehensive sickness insurance altogether, ask your insurer for the most comprehensive cover that they have. Make sure that it covers emergency treatment. If that is not enough, then at least you can make the argument in court that you did the most that you could reasonably be expected to have done. After all, whatever it may look like, the aim of the requirement is not to disallow all EEA self-sufficient persons and students from entering the UK.
