Immigration update: United Kingdom | Immigration impact of COVID-19

Uk immigration impact of COVID-19

Coronavirus and control measures against its spread are impacting global immigration authorities and policies, as well as individual companies including Santa Fe UK, as governments and other bodies react to the changing situation and advice.

Who will be affected?

• Individuals subject to immigration control in the UK
• Our clients in general

Background

• As the impact of Coronavirus intensifies in Europe, most countries have instigated public control measures and policies to control the situation and protect their populations and public services.
• In many cases this has led to the closure of borders and restrictions on travel into a number of countries.
• Santa Fe is working to comply with the advice of governments in each country of operations, while working to ensure business continuity for our clients

Impact

• The UK government has not so far opted to restrict travel to the UK from any particular country. However, some individuals may be affected by travel policies of other countries.
• Chinese nationals whose visas have recently expired or will expire soon, who are in the UK, and have previously been compliant with their immigration conditions, will have their visas automatically extended to 31 March 2020. Any such individuals who need  a status letter attesting to this should  contact the coronavirus immigration helpline
• Non-Chinese non-EEA nationals normally resident in China whose UK visa has an expiry date between 24 January 2020 and 30 March 2020 you should contact the coronavirus immigration helpline. The team will be able to extend your visa to 31 March 2020 if you can demonstrate you are normally resident in China.
• In both of the above cases, there will be no other change to the visa-holder’s conditions.

Implementation

• The measures described above are in effect already

Next Steps (or) Actions Required

• We will monitor the situation on a daily basis and advise of any new measures or policies which may affect our clients accordingly.
• We can expect consulates in the UK, and even UK government and state offices such as the FCO, to close at some point. This will have a particular impact on services such as document legalisation/apostille, and nationals requiring consular services from their respective countries in the UK. We urge you to keep up to date with advice from your national consulate accordingly.

Santa Fe Analysis

• Santa Fe UK has adopted a work from home policy for our staff in the interests of public health and staff safety. This should not significantly impact our service capacity for routine caseload handling, however we advise any client requiring service, particularly consular services, to check in advance via us on the service capacity offered by national consulate in question.
• As the situation is evolving and ever-changing, and subject to great variation in policy from one national government to another, Santa Fe UK will be happy to assist any client in verifying or investigating individual queries relating to accessing consular services of other countries within the UK. However we notify our clients that there may be delays in doing so as consulates may take action without prior notice.

Should you have any questions, please contact the following:

Koshi Blavo Barna
UK Head of Immigration
Santa Fe Relocation UK
Tel.:     +44 0203 457 3595
Email:   Koshi.BlavoBarna@SantaFeRelo.com

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About our Immigration Services
Our immigration services manage thousands of visa applications every year for a multitude of international companies. Our experienced immigration experts and migration agents handle the immigration process for you and provide simple reporting and guidance on immigration matters.

About us
Santa Fe Relocation is a Global Mobility company specialising in managing and delivering high-quality relocation services worldwide. Our core competence is providing services that help corporations and their employees as well as individuals and their families to relocate and settle in new places. These services are delivered to a consistently high standard, locally and globally, and managed through our own operations around the world. For more information, visit us at santaferelo.com.