SC ruling on UK skilled immigration norms—UKBA gears up

United Kingdom, 25th July: The UK Supreme Court’s announcement rendering a large number of UK immigration decisions as unlawful has prompted the UK Border Agency to take immediate action in this regard.

The ruling has dealt a big blow to the UK Home Secretary Theresa May.

SC ruling—a big blow to UK points-based system--The changes introduced to the point based system of UK skilled immigration has been termed as wholly unlawful by the UK Supreme Court.

Apart from skilled migration, the court also rendered UK family migration and UK visitor visa norms as unlawful. Further, it said that reforms to skills levels, salary levels and the list of shortage occupations were introduced before taking any approval from the parliament.

Hence, such UK immigration norms cannot by relied upon by the UK Border Authority for denying UK work permits or rejecting UK visa applications. All these UK immigration rules have been in effect since the year 2008.

Urgent action by UK on skilled immigration scheme—No wonder, as a result of such a decision by the UK Supreme Court, the UK Home Office was compelled to take a serious concern of the whole matter.

According to the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz, the decision has lashed out directly at the UK’s points-based system.

Meanwhile, the UKBA issued a statement clarifying that the changes are not going to affect the manner in which applications for UK visas are considered.

The UK Supreme Court gave a decision in a 48 page format last Wednesday.

UK PBS--It may be worth mentioned that the UK PBS (points based system) was introduced by the UK in the year 2008. It was meant to replace the process of existing UK work permit.

As per the PBS system, all migrants hailing from non-EEA (European Economic Area) should provide proof of the fact that they possess certain qualities before gaining entry in the UK.

The UK PBS grants points to the applicants on the basis of factors including age, English language ability, qualifications and prospective earnings.

As per the UK immigration norms, any applicant cannot be granted points unless he or she has an offer of job that is included in the shortage occupation list.

It further maintains that the foreign worker will get entitled to the wage rate or above the appropriate wage rate for any job in the list. Under certain cases, the employer offering sponsorship needs to demonstrate having fulfilled the conditions of UK labor market test in accordance with the guidelines of the UKBA.