Immigration law is complex and dynamic and there have been many changes to this area of law in the last few years. At ABS Solicitors we take pride in providing up-to-date expert advice in a friendly manner and we will guide you through every step of your application making the process of your application as smooth as possible.

Our charges are competitive and are based on a fixed fee rather than on hourly rates and therefore our clients can be confident from the outset as to what the charges will be and consequently there are no unexpected surprises.

Whilst we frequently deal with various aspects of Immigration law, we receive more queries in some areas than other. Consequently, we have prepared a short summary of the requirements for the areas for which we receive most queries for.

Tier 2 General of the Points Based System

(previously known as Work Permit)

In order to make an application under this category, a prospective applicant must already have a job offer and certificate of Sponsorship from a UK based employer who has been issued a licence by the UK Border Agency to take on an employee under this category. (If the relevant employer has not been “licensed”, then we can assist them to get a licence and regularly work with various employers in getting a license for them).

An applicant needs to score at least 50 points from the following Criterion.

Criterion	Points
Assigned Certificate of Sponsorship having met the requirements of: Shortage occupation; or Job offer with a salary of £150,000 or more; or Completion of a resident labour market test by the sponsor; or Post-Study Work; or Extension – Continuing to work in the same job for the same Sponsor.	30
Appropriate salary Salary has to be £20,000 or above per annum	20

In addition to the above, an applicant must also score 10 points for English language and 10 points for Maintenance (funds).

In order to score 10 points for English language, you must have level equivalent to level B1 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework for Language Learning.

In order to score 10 points for Maintenance, you must have personal savings of at least £800 which must have been held for a consecutive 90 day period ending no more than 1 calendar month before the date of your application.

Tier 5 Worker under a Youth Mobility Scheme

(previously known as Working Holiday Maker)

The youth mobility scheme is for young people from participating countries and territories who want to come and experience life in the UK. Every year, the UK government allocates a number of places on the scheme for each country and territory. The countries and territories currently participating in the scheme are:

Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Monaco, Taiwan

If the applicant is a citizen or passport-holder of a country or territory listed above, and that country or territory has not used all its places for the relevant year, they might be able to come to the UK under the youth mobility scheme.

To be able to apply, an applicant must score 50 points and meet all the other requirements of the Immigration Rules and must be outside the UK when he/she makes her application. An applicant can score points as shown below:

Attributes	Points available
Nationality	30
Age	10
Maintenance (funds)	10

Nationality – An applicant will score 30 points if they are a citizen or passport-holder of any of these countries and territories:

Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Taiwan

Alternatively, they can score 30 points if you are a British overseas citizen, a British overseas territories citizen or a British national (overseas).

Age – An applicant will score 10 points if they are under 31 years old when they apply for their visa; and at least 18 years old on the date when their visa becomes valid (the first date when they enter the UK).

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