Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) the UK visa system and (b) Government discourse on migration encourage international students to choose (i) Scotland and (ii) the UK as their study destination.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our offer to international students is extremely competitive, attracting the brightest and best talent the world has to offer, and welcoming people who will contribute to the UK’s excellent academic reputation and help keep our universities competitive on the world stage. The Government appreciates the significant academic, economic and cultural contribution international students make to the UK’s society as a whole.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what evidential basis he has proposed a minimum income threshold of £38,700 for family and spousal visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government has proposed a minimum income requirement of £38,700 to align with the updated skilled worker salary threshold, to ensure fairness and consistency across immigration routes.
Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process, and an Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the proposed changes to the minimum salary threshold for family visas include renewals to spousal visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The revised minimum income requirement will be implemented in spring 2024.
The Government will set out any transitional provisions associated with the increase in the minimum income requirement in January.
Any applications already submitted will be considered in line with the existing policy.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Oral Statement of 4 December 2023 on Legal Migration, Official Report, column 41, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposals announced in that Statement on the visa status of (a) Ukrainian refugees and (b) others who have claimed asylum in the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our Points Based System enables the Government to prioritise the skills and talent we need to help our economy grow and support our NHS, while encouraging investment in, and protecting, our own resident workforce.
In arriving at this package of measures, we have been mindful of the need to balance the impacts on economic growth and the needs of the labour market.
The Ukraine schemes are temporary visa schemes, all those who are granted permission to remain in the UK under them are provided 36 months leave, given access to benefits, healthcare and are able to work.
Asylum seekers who are in the UK asylum system and have had their asylum claim outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own, are allowed to work in jobs on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The government will be commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on the future composition of the Immigration Salary List, the successor to the SOL.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's news story entitled Home Secretary unveils plan to cut net migration, published on 4 December 2023, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the planned increase in the earning threshold for overseas workers on (a) people whose existing work visas do not meet the threshold and (b) international students moving from graduate visas to work visas that do not meet the threshold.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government will provide further details on what transitional arrangements will apply in due course.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to his Department's news story entitled Home Secretary unveils plan to cut net migration, published on 4 December 2023, whether he plans to introduce transitional protection measures for people whose existing visas do not meet the new threshold and require renewal after the increased threshold is introduced.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government will provide further details on what transitional arrangements will apply in due course.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to allow international students to split the cost of their (a) visa and (b) immigration health surcharge over the duration of their visa, in the context of planned increases in those costs.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
There is no intention to permit the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) to be paid in instalments. The IHS is designed to be paid up-front, in full, so an individual’s healthcare is covered for the duration of their immigration permission in the UK.
The immigration and nationality fees regulations 2018 require visa fees to be paid in full in order for the application to be valid. There are currently no plans to change this requirement.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her planned timetable is for when increases in the cost of (a) works visas, (b) study visas and (c) the immigration health surcharge will come into effect.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We will lay regulations in the Autumn to amend the immigration and nationality fee and IHS levels and set out which immigration routes are impacted.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of the use of collective passports for school visits to the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK is a signatory to the 1961 Council of Europe treaty which provides for collective passports for young people. Continued acceptance of these passports from those who have ratified the treaty is current practice.
Asked by: Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party - Stirling)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications made by EU citizens to remain in the UK were refused by her Department in each of the last six months.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Statistics of immigration applications refused, by the applicant’s nationality, are published quarterly.
Data to 30 September 2022 is currently available. Data to 31 December 2022 will be published on 23 February 2023.
Refusals of applications to the EU Settlement Scheme are available in table EUSS_02 at EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Refusals under the general immigration rules for both asylum and non-asylum applications are available in the Asylum applications, initial decisions and resettlement and Extensions data sets.