INDIA LEADS THE WAY IN PBS ( TIER 1)

Effective 1st April ’08, India will be the first country outside the U.K to implement the new Points Based System ( Tier 1). The U.K immigration Minister Mr. Liam Byrne, in his media interactions on his trip to India in early ’08 has stated ”We want India to come first because it is Britain’s most important market for Highly Skilled Migrants. The very popular Highly skilled Migrant programme, that saw scores of skilled Indians migrate to the U.K in the last 5 years will now be incorporated into the New Points Based System (Tier 1). Under this scheme Indians will have to lodge their documents with their local Visa Application Centres. It will be a single pronged affair and the application will be processed at the British High Commission of your jurisdiction. The scheme does not mandate a confirmed job offer in the U.K. The new system entails an applicant to score a minimum of 75 points in areas like Age, Academics, Earnings and U.K experience. Additionally, the applicant will necessarily have to score 10 points to comply with the English language requirement and another 10 points for maintenance funds. For Indians, the maintenance funds have been set at GBP2800/- for the primary applicant and GBP 1600/- per dependant.

TIER 1 EXPLAINED

To explain the changes in detail HSMP will become General Highly Skilled Migrants a sub category of Tier 1. Even with the change the general categories of how the points will be awarded will remain the same, except that certain new provisions have been added. The points awarded for age, qualification, previous earnings and experiences in the UK all remain the same. The country bands remain the same as well.

The most significant change that has occurred is to the change in procedure. Under HSMP the approval had to be obtained from the Home Office in the U.K. Once that happened the applicant had to apply for the ENTRY CLEARENCE from a local British High Commission. Tier 1 on the other hand will be a one-pronged affair, which can be applied in the country of residence at The British High Commission of your Jurisdiction.

The main provision that has been added is the proper showing of maintenance funds, which has been made mandatory and has to be complied with. 10 points is awarded for this particular section but it will not be added to your total score. Funds of GBP 2800/- for the primary applicant and GBP 1600/- per dependant have to be shown for a period of 3 months. Accountability of funds has also got to be shown.

U.K immigration has laid solid emphasis on the English Language Requirement and awarded 10 points exclusively for this. This means that even if you score 75 points plus in the other areas, but do not comply with this requirement your application will be refused.

One more significant change that would please potential applicants would be the granting of visas for 36 months rather than the initial 24 months. After the initial 36-month period an extension has to applied from the UK itself for a further 24 months, before a permanent residence permit can be obtained.

Transitional Arrangements for those with a HSMP approval letter

India will be the first country to have the TIER1 system implemented outside the UK. As of 1st April 2008 HSMP will close and new applications will come under TIER1. For the rest of the world the system will be rolled out later on in the year.

Transitional arrangements are in place for those people who have already acquired the approval for HSMP but did not complete their ENTRY CLEARANCE before 1st April ’08. The validity of their approval will be for the same 6-month period. The applicant should focus on the Maintenance funds, which is GBP 2800 /- for the primary applicant and GBP1600/- for each dependant..

The fee for this process is GDP 200.or INR 16,000/- under the current exchange rate.