All About The Post-Brexit Immigration Rules

Reliablecounter Team

Are you planning to visit the UK to attend college or a family wedding?

Then do read this article, as it will be about post-Brexit immigration rules that will be implemented from January 1, 2021.

You must be wondering what these new rules are.

In June 2016 through a referendum, the UK decided to end its membership from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community on January 31, 2020.

The period of transitional arrangements is set to end on December 31, 2020.

This decision brought some changes in the immigration rules.

So, in this article, I will tell you about Post-Brexit Immigration Rules.

Let’s find out.

What is Brexit?

In June 2016 through a UK-wide referendum, the UK decided to end its membership from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community on January 31, 2020. To make transitional arrangements a deadline of December 31, 2020 was given. This decision brought some major changes in the immigration policy of the UK which will be effective from January 1, 2021.

Post-Brexit changes in the Immigration Rules

From January 1, 2021 nationals of the European Union, European Economic Area, and Swiss nationals cannot move to the UK and work without a visa. Only Irish nationals will be allowed to work without a visa. The new system introduced is the ‘point-based system’ in which each visa category will have a fixed set of requirements to meet and against it, you will be allotted points. If you have enough points, you will get a UK visa.

The new routes and visa categories:

1.   Global Talent Visa Route

This route has replaced the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) category. Highly skilled individuals from science, humanities, engineering, the arts, and digital technology fields are targeted in this visa category. Most of the requirements are the same as the Tier 1 visa category.

2.   Skilled Migrant Worker Visa Route

This visa category is specifically for the workers who want to do a job in the UK. Both EU nationals and other country residents are eligible to apply for this visa.

For this visa category, you need to be sponsored by the employer having a sponsor license. Also, the applicants must have 70 points (under a point-based system) to be eligible to apply for this Skilled Worker visa category. You need to have 50 mandatory points that you can get from these requirements; Sponsorship (20 points), a job at the fitting skill level (20 points), and English language skills at B1 level (10 points). The applicant must have skill level of RQF3 or above and the applicant must speak English. Also, the salary must be £25,600 or the current market salary rate. If you are a health care worker then your application will be treated as fast-track entry and application fees will also be reduced.

3.   Post Study Work Visa Route

This visa category is also known as UK Graduate Immigration Route, it is a replica of post-study work visa route which was closed in 2012. This visa category will allow the international students to extend their stay for 2 more years after graduation to find appropriate employment.  So, if you are graduating in summer 2021 then you are eligible for this visa.

4.   Intra-company Transfers and Intra-company Graduate Trainees Route

Your skill level needs to match RQF6 skill level in order to apply for this visa category but applicant is not subjected to English language requirements. In the case of intra-company transfers, the applicant must have 12 months of experience prior to the transfer. And 3 months for the case of intra-company graduate trainees. High earners are exempted from the 12 months’ experience of overseas employment before entering the UK for employment.  These applicants can even switch to the skilled worker route (if they meet the qualifying requirements) once they get this visa.

5.   Hong Kong British Nationals (overseas) Visa Route

The government has set out two routes that will allow work and study in the UK and you can apply for this route from January 31, 2021.

  • The BN (O) Status Holder route – It is for BN (O) citizens and their families who are Hong Kong or UK residents.
  • The BN (O) Household Member route – If a child of a BN (O) citizen is born after 1 July 1997, they are eligible to apply for this visa category. The applicant or dependent partner or even the child who applies for this visa category needs to be ordinarily resident in Hong Kong or the UK.

Routes not changed

Following visa categories will remain unchanged post-Brexit:

  1. Tier 1 (Investor)
  2. Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) – this category no longer exists for new applications. Replaced by Global Talent visa route.
  3. Tier 2 (General) and Tier 2 (ICT)
  4. Tier 4 (General) student
  5. Tier 5 visas (Government Authorized Exchange)
  6. Innovator and Start-Up visas – These visa categories were introduced in March 2019 in replacement of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route.
  7. Sponsor Licenses
  8. Family Routes
  9. UK Ancestry Route

So, these are some major changes in immigration rules post-Brexit. If you are applying for a UK visa then review these changes and plan accordingly. Also, if you need help with UK immigration for Europeans you can contact Axis Solicitors Limited. They have a team of experienced lawyers who can help you with the immigration process and can fight your case. They have dealt with deportation orders, judicial reviews, refused entry clearance, refused in-country visa applications. You will have a dedicated case handler with fixed fees quoted right at the beginning. In this way, you will be guided for the proper course of action to get the desired visa of the UK.