South Korean nationals applying for Tier 5 YMS

Young people aged between 18 and 30 years of age can come to the UK on a Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa for a period of up to 2 years to work and live in the UK. There is a limited number of annual allocations and applicants must be a national of the following countries in order to apply:

  • Australia-31,000 places
  • Canada-6,000 places
  • Japan-1,000 places
  • Monaco-1,000 places
  • New Zealand-14,000 places
  • Hong Kong-1,000 places
  • South Korea-1,000 places
  • Taiwan-1,000 places

However, British overseas citizens, British Overseas Territories citizens or British nationals (overseas) as defined by the British Nationality Act 1981 may also apply. There is no annual allocation cap for them.

In addition to meeting the above age and nationality requirements, applicants must also provide evidence of having £1,890 in savings.

It does seem like a straight forward application process, however, an applicant will need to be sponsored by his country of citizenship.

Nationals from Australia, Canada, Monaco, New Zealand and Hong Kong are deemed to have sponsorship status. In January 2020 it was announced in the new statement of changes that South Korean nationals would also be considered to have deemed sponsorship status.

However, nationals of Japan and Taiwan are not deemed as having sponsorship status and will therefore need to apply for a Certificate of Sponsorship.

In addition, applicants from Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan will then need to apply via a ballot system. This system has been in place for a number of years; however, it was only introduced in January for South Korean nationals.

There are two ballots per year, one in January and the second in July in which lucky applicants will be selected at random to apply for the Tier 5 (Youth Mobility) visa.

In order to apply, applicants will first need to send an email to the specified email address by the deadline. The header should contain the applicant’s full name, date of birth and passport number.

In the main body of the email, applicants should state the same information as well as their mobile phone number.

Applicants are then selected at random, and will be notified if they have been selected to apply via email. Unsuccessful applicants will need to wait until the next ballot opening date.

Successful applicants will need to submit and pay for their online applications by the specified deadline. Failure to do so means that they will lose their allocation. Fingers crossed for those who were not selected the first time, will be selected the second time round!

For further information on the Tier 5 Youth Mobility visa, please also refer to our previous article ‘A brief guidance to Tier 5 (Youth Mobility) visa’ published on 30 August 2019.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss a consultation, please do not hesitate to contact one of our dedicated immigration consultants who will be more than happy to assist you.

The content of this article is for general use and information only. Since each case should be prepared on its own merit and in light of the constant amendments to the Immigration Rules, it is important to note that the information provided must not be relied upon unless Migra & Co has either given written consent or has been officially engaged in relation to a specific immigration matter. As a result, Migra & Co will take no responsibility for any damage, cost or loss resulting from relying on the information contained in this article, blog and website.