LightNews
James Bowes
@jamesbowes01.bsky.social
210 followers 53 following 1.5K posts
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 9m
@colinyeo.bsky.social I’m guessing this would exclude many criminals from using the route and also illegal immigrants? Do you think it would affect failed asylum seekers using the route?
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 57m
It looks like it will now apply to Article 8 Family/Private Life applications. A big change snuck in if that's the case.
1 1 2
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 1h
Yes I can’t see more than 8,000 coming on the High Potential Individual Visa but I guess it does sort of depend on which universities are in the top 100. Some Indian universities making the cut would increase numbers somewhat, but we’re less appealing with the tougher work visa rules elsewhere.
1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3h
It’s interesting how they’ll target countries where there aren’t too many people claiming asylum or staying to work illegally but never dare require a visa from Brazilians where the number is obviously much larger.
Reposted by James Bowes
lukepiper.bsky.social
Luke Piper @lukepiper.bsky.social · 5h
More rules changes coming today, include:

Botswana visa free travel stopped from 15:00 today.

Graduate route reduced to 18 months for most.

English language requirements for several work routes will be increased to B2 level from Jan 2026.

questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-stat...
Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
questions-statements.parliament.uk
2 1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 7h
There’s no migration debate here. Recruitment overseas of care workers is already banned.

The ‘debate’ is that Reform and the Conservatives want mass deportation of the care workers who are already here and Labour don’t. The former is clearly a racist position.
1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 21h
Rishi and Keir both have the feel of back to Mary Whitehouse prime ministers though. Boris, not so much.
3
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 1d
Thank you that does look interesting.
1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
The only thing I can find on graduate visa switchers is this which shows people doing a professional job are the most common, but people are overrepresented in associate professional and technical jobs (likely TSL) relative to other work visa holders. This predates the salary threshold rise though.
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
Yes, not everyone on it is technically a BNO national but only because some Chinese nationals (or I guess nationals of other countries) living in Hong Kong can come as family of a BNO passport holder.
1 1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
Interesting. I guess even when new graduates do earn £41,700 they're very unlikely to be immediately earning the going rate for eg a software engineer (£54,700!)
1 1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
They have of course closed the Afghan resettlement scheme and refugee family reunification, and banned Ukrainians from ILR after 10 years.
2 5
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
@bouri.bsky.social does this match your experience when you work with people switching from the graduate visa to a skilled worker visa? At my work it’s often people getting a 2 year visa for medium skilled jobs (eg data analyst) paid at the new entrant rate.
1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
2. There’s a proposal to remove the new entrant discount for jobs on the Temporary Shortage List and make these ineligible for ILR. People switching from the graduate visa are likely overrepresented on the TSL (eg sales, marketing, data analytics or technical roles) so this would be a big cut. (2/2)
1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
www.gov.uk/government/p...

A few thoughts on this:
1. If jobs are downgraded to NQF level 1-2 then that usually means you can only renew a visa if it’s the same occupation and same employer. The proposal here would affect many of the most common non-graduate jobs for people to do on visas. (1/x)
1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 2d
Beat me to it.
1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3d
ukandeu.ac.uk/diversity-eu...
The surprising diversity of the EU national population in the UK - UK in a changing Europe
James Bowes unpacks the latest census and EU Settlement Scheme data to explore the diversity of the EU national population in the UK.
ukandeu.ac.uk
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3d
www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28...
Recent trends in immigration from Canada to the United States
The flow of migrants across international borders is a critical factor shaping national economies, innovation capacity, and societal development in the 21st century. For neighbouring countries with de...
www150.statcan.gc.ca
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3d
www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...
Nearly half of Kiwis applying for Australian citizenship born elsewhere
What the Australian government's official figures say about New Zealanders moving across the Tasman.
www.rnz.co.nz
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3d
35% of New Zealanders moving to Australia were born outside of New Zealand (and 48% of New Zealanders applying for Australian citizenship). 60% of Canadians applying for a US employment based green card are born outside of Canada. This is similar to Western Europeans who came to the UK under FoM.
3 2
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3d
Pretty much all the Chagossians that came here moved to Crawley and they’re still only about 3% of the population there.
2
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 3d
The number of Iranians crossing the Channel has been higher than the number entering the EU as a whole for a few years now so it’s obvious most were already in Europe. The recent increase in people coming here is Eritreans, Somalis and Sudanese. The former two sometimes but not always via Germany.
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 4d
I think it’s more than just Dublin. It’s also the new EU laws that are coming in (a presumption to reject an asylum claim if the applicant has been rejected by another EU country) and a tightening of national laws (eg in Germany).
1 1
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 5d
Is the uptick in family visa applications because of a rush by refugees to apply for family reunification before the ban?
James Bowes @jamesbowes01.bsky.social · 5d
Excluding social care, for jobs below graduate level it’s roughly a 40:40:20 split of jobs initially recommended for the TSL: jobs that have dropped below NQF level 3 : jobs that remain NQF level 3 but not on the TSL.
1