In a post on social media, the Home Secretary announced a new UK visa and immigration system had been inaugurated and implemented on Tuesday, 2nd December 2020.
The United Kingdom's points-based immigration system is now live. pic.twitter.com/sUH8VR2t4m
— Priti Patel MP (@pritipatel) December 1, 2020
According to an article by the BBC, the new entry requirements would end free-movement with the EU and put its citizens on par with all other nationalities seeking to immigrate to Britain.
The Home Secretary shared a video that particularly highlighted the “flexibility and simplicity” of the new regulations. It also went on to highlight that immigration to the UK would be allowed “based on skills, not where people come from”.
As border preparations are being stepped up, £20m software produced by the US tech firm Palantir, which gathers information from different Government computers, will be deployed to deal with the influx of passengers at border control post-December 31st, 2020.
In order to pinpoint and get on top of bottlenecks, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove said the new system would enable the authorities to make “quick and decisive decisions”.
Source: Policy Exchange
Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
Online applications for a range of new visa “routes” began on Tuesday. According to the UKVI website, all non-British nationals arriving after 11 pm on 31 December 2020 will need a visa under one of the previously used Tier systems for non-EU migrants if planning to remain for longer than 6 months.
Modelled on the Australian points-based Visa Immigration System, meeting certain criteria will afford an applicant points. Upon successfully adding up points based on salary, language proficiency, an offer of employment from an authorised sponsor etc. beyond the minimum required threshold, an applicant can be granted leave to settle in the United Kingdom.
