Permits2work

Annual Limit for Tier 1 Visa Applications

December 22nd, 2010

From 23 December 2010 the Tier 1 (General) route will be closed for applicants from outside the UK. Tier 1 (General) overseas will not reopen for fresh applications.

Tier 1 (General) applications made from within the UK will remain open until 05 April 2011. There will be transitional arrangements in place after 6 April 2011 for some applicants who are already in the UK.

Those already on Tier 1 (General), will still be eligible for an extension of your visa providing they meet the criteria.

The existing other Tier 1 routes will be revised, as follows;

• Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route will be changed to make it more attractive, more flexible and through creating a new route for start-up companies which do not meet the investment threshold.
• Tier 1 (Investor) route will now offer an accelerated route to settlement, depending on the level of investment made.

Both Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and Tier 1 (Investor) routes will be unrestricted, subject to the person meeting the relevant criteria.

There will also be an additional Tier 1 route for ‘persons of exceptional talent’ as follows:’

• Persons of exceptional talent will apply to those who have international recognition in scientific and cultural fields, or who demonstrate exceptional promise to be awarded recognition in the future. Applications by those with exceptional promise must be endorsed by a competent body in the relevant field. The ‘exceptional talent’ category will be subject to a limit of 1,000 places.

If you qualify for Tier 1 (General) we advise you to make an application as soon as possible.

Please contact our offices for a free assessment.