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For the fifth year in a row, Richmond upon Thames has been voted the happiest place to live in London. The riverside town is the capital’s home of rugby and has great sports facilities. The town itself has a mix of boutiques, independents and high street brands with bars and pubs on the riverbank. This…

The rapid and complete shutdown of the property market resulting from coronavirus lockdown could cause UK house prices to fall by as much as 10% this year. However, according to the research from Savills, while we can expect a severe economic shock in the immediate term, a robust recovery is expected by 2022 and a…

The Home Office guidance published on 24 March 2020 confirmed that if you are currently in the UK and unable to return home due to the COVID-19 crisis and your current visa expires between 24 January 2020 – 31 May 2020, then your leave will be extended until 31 May 2020. However, this is extension…

If you are on a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa and your business has been disrupted you no longer need to employ at least 2 people for 12 consecutive months each. The 12 month period you are required to employ someone for can be made up of multiple jobs across different months. Time when your employees…

If you cannot maintain your current workforce because your operations have been severely affected by coronavirus (COVID-19), you can furlough employees and apply for a grant that covers 80% of their usual monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and pension contributions  on that subsidised furlough pay.…

House sales in the UK are expected to fall this year, as the Covid-19 pandemic put the property market into deep freeze. According to Knight Frank, if the current lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic continues in the UK for the next couple of months, the number of residential sales across the U.K. is estimated…

Guidance has been issued by the Home Office concerning Tier 2 visa sponsor licence responsibilities. With an increasing number of non-UK employees likely to be absent from work or working remotely, the Home Office has instructed Tier 2 visa sponsors to follow certain steps to remain compliant with their duties as a sponsor. Any employee…

If you are in the UK and your leave expires between 24 January 2020 and 31 May 2020, you can apply to switch to a long-term UK visa from within the UK. This includes those who would not normally be able to switch to a visa from within the UK, and would normally need to…

The government announced temporary changes to the VAT payments to help businesses manage their cash flow. If you’re a UK VAT registered business and have any VAT payments due between 20 March 2020 and 30 June 2020, you have the option to defer the VAT payment until a later date or you can pay the…

Sopra Steria, the third party consultancy responsible for managing the UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service Centres (“UKVACS”) on behalf of the Home Office, released a list of the centres which are temporarily closing until further notice due to coronavirus outbreak. The following Sopra Steria locations will be closed: First day of closure Aberdeen –…

According to UK property website Zoopla, the number of residential properties sold in the UK is expected to reduce by 60% in the next three months. In the week before 22 March, before the nationwide lockdown, there was 40% less housing enquiries and 15% less sales. Nationwide lockdown resulting from coronavirus outbreak, the government’s request…

Most of the non-EU nationals are required to register with the police after arriving in the UK with a visa, or after being granted permission to extend their leave in the UK. Usually, if you are required to register with the police, you must do so within 7 days of: arriving in the UK if…

As a result of the disruption to daily lives caused by the COVID-19 outbreak most business owners have faced a lot of issues. Losses are mounting due to the major impact of the disruption, and many businesses have called on their landlords for help in reducing the impact of the coronavirus. This article considers some…

On 10 March 2020, during a special meeting of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Bank of England had voted to reduce the Bank Rate by 50 basis points down from 0.75% to 0.25% – this is the steepest rate cut since the financial crisis in 2008 – to counter the “economic…