Moving from one’s country of birth can be both exciting and scary, be it for temporary periods such as a student or more permanently, for example as the spouse of a British national applying for settlement. However, it can also be very expensive. This article seeks to highlight the costs and some potential savings of UK immigration, which should be one of the considerations for anyone looking to move or stay here legally.

Intro

So, life has been really good and cupid has found you a match, you have popped the question and she/he has said yes! Or you have been asked and you said yes! Congratulations!

Now you need to not only plan the wedding but also decide where you will hold the wedding; this article is hopefully going to aid you in making that choice if you are a Non-EU citizen living outside of the UK and are engaged to marry a Brit in the UK.

A little known visa, which the government have been trialing since March 2019 to run until December 2020, is the Tier 5 Seasonal Worker visa. This allows migrants from any part of the world to come to the UK as seasonal workers, if they are working for farmers in the edible horticulture sector who have a special licence from the government, allowing them to sponsor such temporary workers.

Origins

The backdrop of this visa is the government’s recognition of the fact that a lot of UK farms have for many years relied on eastern Europeans (mainly Polish and Romanian workers) who come to the UK during harvest season and help with the harvesting of farms. Given that the UK has now left the EU and the freedom of movement from the EU zone has ended, farmers have lobbied the government to ensure that such farms do not go under due to the lack of workers for roles that Brits mostly do not wish to do.

Covid-19 has changed many people’s plans in the last year, and it has made things more complicated for some of those who are in the UK with a visa. The government has made several attempts to allow a little leeway for those affected by disrupted flights, and the most recent amendments come in the form of ‘Exceptional Assurance.’

What is Exceptional Assurance?

‘Exceptional Assurance’ is a form of permission to stay that is being granted to those whose visas have or will expire, but who have been unable to leave the UK due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Government has recently announced that they will refund the Immigration Health Surcharge to eligible individuals who work in Health and Care.

What is the Immigration Health Surcharge?

Most migrants need to pay the Immigration Health Surcharge when they make an application for a UK visa. It is currently £624 per year for most adults, so it is quite a hefty sum when you are paying for a visa that lasts a few years. The government introduced it in 2015 to ‘ensure temporary migrants make a fair contribution to the comprehensive range of NHS services available to them during their stay’.