Several Immigration Services Agency notices landed in the same week of late May. None is dramatic on its own; together they are most of what changes at the counter this quarter.
A new residence card
The agency confirmed arrangements for the second-generation residence card, including the certificate infrastructure that lets card readers verify it. The design carries stronger anti-forgery features and supports the integrated card arriving in June.
One change affects families directly: children aged one to under sixteen must now submit a facial photograph for the new card format. Under the old format, cards for under-sixteens carried no photograph.
If you have children on dependent status, factor the photograph into your next application. It is the sort of requirement that turns a straightforward renewal into a second trip.
Business Manager: the questions the agency keeps getting
The agency also published a set of answers to the questions it receives most often about the revised Business Manager landing criteria — an unusual step, and a fair indication of how much confusion the October 2025 revision created.
The document is worth reading in full if you hold or are applying for this status. It addresses how capital is assessed, how the employment route works as an alternative, and what counts as adequate business substance.
Specified Skilled Worker reporting
A separate notice clarified the supporting documents required with the periodic reports that Specified Skilled Worker employers must file. This is an employer obligation rather than a worker one, but failures show up in the worker's record at renewal, so it is not purely someone else's problem.
Employment compliance month
The agency designated a promotion month for proper foreign employment practice, run jointly with the labour ministry. These campaigns usually coincide with more attention to workplace inspections — checking that people are doing work their status permits, and that employers are filing the notifications they owe.
If your actual duties have drifted from what your status covers, that gap is worth closing rather than hoping it goes unnoticed. Working outside your permitted activities is a ground for revocation, and it appears in the revocation statistics every year.
Our required documents checklist covers what to bring to an application.
Source: Immigration Services Agency