News
Government rejects calls to relax part-time study visa rules, keeps full-time requirement for non-local students
3+ hour, 1+ min ago (284+ words) Visa HQ Responding to a Legislative Council question on Wednesday, Secretary for Education Dr Choi Yuk-lin confirmed that Hong Kong will maintain its long-standing rule that only full-time short-term programmes qualify Mainland, Macao and Taiwan residents for a student visa…...
Net migration falls to five-year low as UK Government touts "restored control
4+ day, 55+ min ago (253+ words) Visa HQ Downing Street seized on fresh Home Office data this weekend to claim that its post-Brexit immigration reforms are "delivering results" In a press release issued at 21: 30 on Saturday, 23 May, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer highlighted provisional figures showing…...
Belgium's Constitutional Court Restores Financial Aid Option for Vulnerable Asylum Seekers
4+ day, 10+ hour ago (269+ words) Visa HQ Belgium's Constitutional Court issued a landmark judgment on Thursday, 22 May 2026, annulling a 2025 law that abolished financial assistance for asylum seekers who cannot be accommodated in reception centres The Court ruled that the blanket removal of cash support violated…...
Only 13 % of family-reunification visas go to relatives of refugees, new Interior Ministry data shows
6+ day, 6+ hour ago (270+ words) Visa HQ Fresh figures released in response to an opposition parliamentary enquiry reveal that between 1 January and 23 April 2026 German missions worldwide decided 177, 382 national-visa cases for family reunification Of these, just 23, 273or about 13 percentinvolved the spouses or minor children of people with…...
Nationalrat caps refugee family reunification through new quota system
1+ week, 12+ hour ago (266+ words) Visa HQ Separate from the wider asylum overhaul, Austrian legislators on 20 May 2026 voted to transfer the right to family reunification for recognised refugees from asylum law to the Niederlassungs- und Aufenthaltsgesetz (Settlement and Residence Act) By relocating the provision, the…...
Belgian Coastal Police Warn of Rising "Transmigration" Attempts to the UK
1+ week, 1+ day ago (240+ words) Visa HQ Senior officers from Belgium's Westkust and Ostend police zones sounded the alarm in a parliamentary hearing on 19 May 2026, describing a sharp uptick in small-boat departures carrying migrants across the North Sea to Britain After years of relative calm,…...
Home Office Confirms 2026 Visa Fees: Skilled Worker Now "769, Visitor "135
1+ week, 3+ day ago (228+ words) Visa HQ Specialist site UK Sponsor Finder published a detailed breakdown of the Home Office's 2026 fee table on 17 May, highlighting significant cost jumps that took effect on 8 April A short-term visitor visa now costs "135, a two-year visitor "515, and an out-of-country…...
Human-rights report prompts changes to catering and oversight on Irish deportation flights
1+ week, 2+ day ago (342+ words) Visa HQ An Irish Times investigation published on 18 May 2026 has shed rare light on the inner workings of the State's charter-flight deportation programme Monitoring reports obtained under Freedom of Information reveal that 24 Pakistani nationals removed from Ireland last September were…...
UK-France "One-In, One-Out" Channel Returns Pilot Extended Until October
1+ week, 3+ day ago (375+ words) The Home Office and "lys'e Palace have agreed to keep the "one-in, one-out" small-boats returns scheme running until 1 October 2026, extending the contentious pilot by almost four months. While the government claims the policy is cutting crossings, critics warn it endangers…...
Home Office quietly expands right-to-work checks for UK sponsor-licence holders
1+ week, 2+ day ago (274+ words) Visa HQ Immigration-sponsored employers in the United Kingdom have been given little-noticed but far-reaching new compliance duties after the Home Office updated its Sponsor Guidance on 8 April 2026 The change, highlighted by law firm Addleshaw Goddard, means the right-to-work regime now…...