Tier 1 visa applicants to be required to produce overseas criminal record certificate for every country they have lived in for the past 10 years
The Home Office has today updated its guidance on Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visas in order to crack down on foreign criminals entering the UK.
The updated Tier 1 (Investor) guidance can be read here and the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) guidance can be read here. Both the Telegraph and the Daily Mail reported on the change yesterday.
It will mean that from September, someone applying for a Tier 1 (Investor) or Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa will have to give details of whether they have been convicted of a serious offence and they will have to produce a criminal record certificate from every country they have lived in for the past 10 years.
The updated guidance states:
From 1st September 2015, if you are applying for entry clearance as a Tier 1 (Investor) or an adult dependant (over 18 years old) of the main applicant in this route, you must provide an overseas criminal record certificate for any country you have resided in continuously for 12 months or more, in the 10 years prior to your application.
You must provide the following specified documents:
• The original certificate, for each country (excluding the UK) where you have resided continuously for 12 months or more in the last 10 years, since aged 18 years old, issued by the overseas authority, and
• If the original is not in English, then you must provide a translated copy of certificate, in line with the requirements set out at: www.gov.uk/certifying-a-document."
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire was quoted by the Mail as saying: "Foreign criminals have no place in the United Kingdom and this scheme will help keep them out. Since 2010, checks on foreign nationals going through the UK criminal justice system have increased by more than 1,000 per cent, helping ensure more foreign criminals are taken off our streets and making our communities safer. But we want to go further still by preventing these people getting into the country in the first place. Mandatory police certificates will serve as an additional tool to help us achieve this."
According to the Telegraph, while the initial phase of the scheme will only apply to Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa applicants and their dependants, the initiative is likely to be extended to other visa routes in 2016/17, though it will not be introduced for short-term visas as this would be a "disproportionate requirement" for millions of visitors to the UK.