Immigration Updates – 26th of August

General Updates

Netherlands

Effective 1 October 2022, many Turkish nationals intending to stay in the Netherlands for more than 90 days are required to obtain a long-term visa (MVV).

United Kingdom

Effective 22 August 2022, the UK government has opened the new Scale-Up visa route, in line with the Statement of Changes released in March 2022.

This is a new work visa route allowing qualifying Scale-Ups in all sectors to sponsor talented foreign nationals for highly-skilled jobs.

To qualify as a Scale-up sponsor, employers need to provide proof of revenue over the past three years and proof of employment growth of 20 percent over this same period.

The worker must have the skills needed to enable the business to continue to grow. This means they must:

• have a job offer at the required skill-level (graduate level or above)
• be paid at least £33,000 per year, £10.10 per hour or the ‘going rate’ for the occupation code, whichever is highest of these figures
• be expected to work in the job for at least the first 6 months of their permission
• speak, understand, read and write English to the required standard.

A sponsored Scale-up Worker who makes a successful application on the route will be granted for 2 years initially. However, they will only be sponsored for the first 6 months of their permission. The sponsor will no longer sponsor the worker after this period, even if they continue to employ them. The worker can:

• continue working for the employer without being sponsored
• change job or employer without requiring new sponsorship, provided they continue to meet the requirements of the Scale-up route

At the end of the 2-year grant of permission, the worker can make an unsponsored application and be granted permission on the route for a further 3 years. After 5 years’ continuous residence in the UK on this route (or in combination with another eligible route, or eligible routes), they can apply to stay permanently in the UK.

A Scale-up Worker can be accompanied or joined by their partner or children if they meet the relevant requirements for dependants.

COVID-19 Updates

Germany

• The government has extended the relaxation of COVID entry rules until the end of September 2022. The rules were previously due to expire on 31 August 2022.
• Since 11 June 2022:
  • Entry is permitted for all purposes, including tourism.
  • Proof of vaccination, recovery or testing is not required.
  • A travel ban applies to travellers who have stayed in an area of variant of concern (currently no states are designated as virus variant areas) within ten days prior to their entry to Germany. Transport companies may not transport any persons from these countries to Germany unless exceptions apply. These travellers are required to register before entry, provide a negative PCR-test result and quarantine for 14 days.