25 June 2008

The UK government has today announced that it intends to impose new requirements in relation to family visit visas. Under the proposed changes, UK based family members will have to become licensed in order to sponsor family members to visit the UK. UK based family members will have a new duty to ensure that their visitors leave the UK before their visa expires and failure to do so may result in a ban on sponsoring any further family members to the UK, penalties of up to £5,000 or a term of imprisonment.