We learned on 1 December that the Tier 1 (General) quota for December has already been met. This is the third consecutive month that the quota has been reached (each month earlier and earlier!). With the Tier 1 (General) category closing on 1 April 2011, it is questionable when applications filed during December will be approved (if at all).
Any applications already submitted for consideration in December will not now be processed until January at the earliest and will be processed in order of the date they arrived at the particular application centre.
We would advise any clients wishing to submit Tier 1 (General) applications on an out of country basis before April 2011 should do so immediately. We believe there is a real risk that applications submitted in the New Year are unlikely to be processed before the UKBA's deadline of the 31st March 2011.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 02 December 2010 .
