COVID-19 Update 30th June 2021
Jobs That Qualify for Travel Exemptions
The Government’s guidance on jobs that qualify for an exemption from the current travel restrictions has been updated to include:
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- Business directors bringing significant numbers of jobs and investment to the UK
The exemption covers 2 types of senior executives (where they are undertaking qualifying activities in England). These are:
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- multinational executives – executives based overseas who are part of multinational firms and visiting their UK based subsidiaries or branches
- international executives – executives of overseas companies normally based overseas who are seeking to undertake exempt activity in England related to either:
- making a financial investment in a UK based business
- establishing a new business within the UK
“Significant economic benefit” to the UK means that the work they are doing has a greater than 50% chance of creating or preserving at least 500 UK-based jobs in either:
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- an existing UK-based business which has at least 500 employees
- a new UK business within 2 years of the date of their arrival in the UK
The exemption only applies if the business activity requires their physical presence and cannot be done remotely or by anyone who would not need to quarantine. A person wishing to use this exemption must apply using the business, jobs and investment exemption form which available on the following link. Only individuals who have received a letter from the UK government confirming that they meet the criteria for the exemption, based on the information provided, will be able to use the exemption. This letter must be obtained before travelling to the UK and presented to Border Force officials upon arrival.
Guidance For Visa Applicants and Temporary Residents
The Home Office has updated this guidance again to say that the date by which people can apply for ‘exceptional assurance’ has been further extended to 30 September 2021.
This means that people who have a visa, leave or ‘exceptional assurance’ that expires before 30 September 2021 and intend to leave the UK to return to a country or territory currently listed amber or red, but cannot do so because of travel restrictions, can request additional time to stay in the UK by emailing cihassuranceteam@homeoffice.gov.uk with the following details:
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- full name
- date of birth
- nationality
- Home Office, GWF or any other reference number
- type of visa
- expiry date of visa
- reason for request
- evidence of flight or evidence showing reason they can’t leave
Health Secretary’s Speech
For those of you who missed it last night, here’s a link to the new Health Secretary’s speech where he states that the Government “see no reason to go beyond 19 July” with the current rules and restrictions and that this date marks “the start of an exciting new journey for our country”.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/19-july-remains-our-target-date-for-ending-restrictions
Shared Rural Network Consultation
Not Covid related but worth being aware of is a new DCMS consultation on Shared Rural Network related to additional 4G mobile coverage to be provided in Total-Not-Spot (TNS) target intervention areas. The consultation is mainly targeted at providers of digital infrastructure services but there is a question for members of the public and interested bodies as to whether they are aware of any current or planned (next 3 years) investments in the TNS target areas on the maps in the consultation document. So it’s worth checking whether there are any TNS areas in your region.
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