Headline

All You Need To Know About UK New Visa Rules

Published

2 years ago

December 5, 2023

The UK government has unveiled a comprehensive five-point plan in a bid to curb immigration.

Mixed reactions have trailed the plan, which encompasses various measures, such as prohibiting care workers from relocating with their families and increasing the minimum salary requirement for skilled worker visas.

Pressure is mounting on James Cleverly, who assumed the role of Home Secretary just three weeks ago, to demonstrate a firm stance on immigration.

“Enough is enough,” Cleverly told MPs on Monday. “Immigration policy must be fair, legal, and sustainable,” he said.

According to Sky News, there is growing anger among Conservatives regarding the recent setback in the Supreme Court regarding the Rwanda deportation scheme.

The PUNCH reports that the Court declared the British government’s proposal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda as illegal. If approved, the UK would have been able to send anyone who entered the country illegally to Rwanda.

Additionally, it has been revealed that net migration reached 745,000 last year.

1,180,000 individuals entered the UK with the intention of remaining for at least a year in the year that ended in June 2023, as reported by the BBC.

The latest figures by the UK Office of National Statistics shows that majority of people arriving the UK, about 968,000, are from non-EU countries.

The top five non-EU nationalities were:

Indian (253,000)
Nigerian (141,000)
Chinese (89,000)
Pakistani (55,000)
Ukrainian (35,000)
The home secretary described the new policy as a “more robust” plan than any previous government’s stance on migration.

In this report, PUNCH Online explains the UK’s five-point plan to cut immigration:

Health and care visas

A measure to put a stop to the “abuse of the health and care visa” has been proposed, which would prohibit overseas care workers from bringing their dependents. The government defines a dependant as a husband or wife, a civil partner or single partner, and children under the age of eighteen.

Skilled worker visa minimum salary change

The minimum salary requirement for obtaining a skilled worker visa, currently set at £26,000, has been increased to £38,700. This is a 50% increase.

Shortage occupation list

The Shortage Occupation list is a list that includes jobs that the UK government believes are hard to fill in the labour market for UK residents. These jobs have softer requirements for qualifying for sponsored work visas. However, that is about to change as a result of the new policy, which eliminates the 20% minimum wage reduction offered to those applying for a visa in Shortage Occupations.

Moreover, Cleverly said that the list would be trimmed and reviewed. The current list includes graphics designers, construction workers, vets, programmers, laboratory technicians, among others.

Family visas

To further “ensure people only bring dependants whom they can support financially,” the minimum requirement for a family visa will also be increased to £38,700, from £18,600, the rate from 2012.

Student Visas

“In total, this package, plus our reduction in students dependants, will mean around 300,000 fewer people will come in future years than have come to the UK last year,” Mr Cleverly told MPs.

The government has requested that the Migration Advisory Committee review the graduate route. So changes to the Students Visa are expected to be announced soon.

Headline

Peru Anti-government Protesters Clash With Police

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

Hundreds of anti-government protesters clashed with police in the Peruvian capital Lima on Saturday, throwing stones and sticks as officers fired tear gas on the demonstrators, AFP journalists reported.

The protest, organized by a youth collective called “Generation Z”, is part of growing social unrest in Peru against organized crime, corruption in public office, and a recent pension reform.

“Today, there is less democracy than before. It’s getting worse… because of fear, because of extortion,” said 54-year-old protester Gladys, who declined to give her last name.

Around 500 people gathered in the city center, under heavy police presence.

“Congress has no credibility, it doesn’t even have the approval of the people… It is wreaking havoc in this country,” said protester Celene Amasifuen.

The clashes broke out as demonstrators tried to approach executive and congressional buildings in Lima.

The radio station Exitosa said that its reporter and a cameraman were hit by pellets, commonly fired by law enforcement.

Police said at least three officers were wounded.

Approval ratings for President Dina Boluarte, whose term ends next year, have plummeted amid rising extortion and organized crime cases.

Several opinion polls show the government and conservative-majority Congress are seen by many as corrupt institutions.

This week, the legislature passed a law requiring young adults to join a private pension fund, despite many facing a precarious working environment.

AFP

Headline

Fresh World Trouble Looms As Netanyahu Tells Western Leaders ‘There Will Be No Palestinian State’

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said there would be no Palestinian state, in a message addressed to the leaders of Britain, Australia and Canada after they recognised Palestinian statehood.

“I have a clear message for those leaders who recognise a Palestinian state after the horrific massacre on October 7: you are granting a huge reward to terror,” he said.

“And I have another message for you: it will not happen. No Palestinian state will be established west of the Jordan River.”

Britain, Australia and Canada on Sunday became the first tripartite Western nations to recognise a Palestinian state.

Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly, which opens Monday in New York.

“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a message on X.

“Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote on X.

This comes after decades of requests for sovereignty from the Palestinian side.

Portugal was also to recognise Palestinian statehood later Sunday, as Israel came under huge international pressure over the war in Gaza triggered almost two years ago by the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.

Headline

Badenoch Slams UK’s Palestine Recognition Decision As ‘Absolutely Disastrous’

Published

6 hours ago

September 21, 2025

Editor

Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch condemned the Prime Minister Keir Starmer-led United Kingdom’s decision to formally recognise the State of Palestine.

PUNCH Online reports that Britain, alongside Australia and Canada, on Sunday recognised a Palestinian state in a seismic shift in decades of Western foreign policy.

Britain and Canada became the first G7 countries to take the step, with France and other nations expected to follow at the annual UN General Assembly, which opens Monday in New York.

However, the decision triggered swift Israeli anger and condemnation from the opposition.

Reacting in a statement on her X on Sunday, Badenoch described the move as “absolutely disastrous.”

She argued the move rewards terrorism with no conditions, and the decision would be widely regretted.

She said, “Absolutely disastrous. We will all rue the day this decision was made. Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas.

“It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”

The Winchester opposition leader accused Labour of pandering to its “hard left” rather than fixing Britain’s pressing domestic problems.

“It is because Labour cannot fix the big problems in our society that they focus on discredited student union campaigns to appease the hard left.”

Listing examples of Labour’s failings, she said, “They cannot fix the NHS, so they push assisted suicide. – They cannot create jobs for young people, so they give them votes at 16.

“They cannot sort out immigration, but they will recognise Palestine instead. And so on. This is the same man who paid £35bn of reparations to Mauritius along with the surrender of the Chagos islands.”

Badenoch also criticised what she described as the prime minister’s lack of judgment.

“Everything we are seeing is a consequence of a Prime Minister who has no plan for the country and no judgment.

“He will spend the next four years delivering the hobbyhorses of the Labour left to stay in power and leave a HUGE mess for us to clean up.”

Earlier, Starmer announced the recognition of Palestine in a post on X, saying the move was intended to provide a two-state solution.

He said, “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine.”