Help! Tier 5 YM Visa query - for Japanese national

Hello everyone,

I would appreciate any advice from anyone who has knowledge in this area.

The back story is short and simple. I am a british national living/working in Japan on a Working Holiday Visa, and my partner is a Japanese national living with me here. She wants to come to the UK for a year or maybe 2 to travel, maybe work and mainly study the English language (her level is already very good)

She wants to apply for the Tier 5 Youth Mobility Visa as this seems to be pretty much a working holiday-type visa.

We are VERY confused with the application process.

For Japanese nationals looking to travel in 2016, there was a 2-day window in January in which applicants emailed a specific address, and 1000 people were chosen at random. There is absolutely nowhere online mentioning this repeating itself for 2017 and for some reason it seems we are able to go to the .gov website and just apply for the visa online?

My question is, if we can apply online now, although I know this will include visiting the application centre etc., does this mean the process has changed? Why can we apply online now without going through the drama of emailing to see if we are accepted or not?

Also if anyone could please advise despite this being tricky to answer, I am under the impression that there is still a 1000 applicant limit. If we want to travel in March 2017, is there a recommended date of application? Does anyone know where the cut-off is for this 1000 limit? We would consider changing our travel date you see, if it meant having a stronger chance of being accepted.

Any advice is very much appreciated,

Thank you

David

Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) visa wrote:You can apply for a visa up to 3 months before the date you travel to the UK.

See also Points-based system: Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme).

Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) Temporary Migrants.

Immigration Rules Appendix G: Youth Mobility Scheme.

vinny wrote:

Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme) visa wrote:You can apply for a visa up to 3 months before the date you travel to the UK.

See also Points-based system: Tier 5 (Youth Mobility Scheme).

Immigration Rules Appendix G: Youth Mobility Scheme.

Thank you for the quick reply.

This information however doesn't quite solve my query. I am aware that they ask for you to apply within 3 months of the travel date, but is there anywhere online that confirms that there won't be a 2-day window type of thing happening in January 2017? Its very strange that there is nowhere that actually references this change. Also, if we have to apply within 3 months, is there anywhere to obtain the knowledge of when the 1000 applicants limit is reset? I think it is reasonable to request this information as we would not like for our application to be rejected on a count of if we had applied a week prior then we may have been successful!

Thanks again,

David

Youth Mobility Scheme 2016 for Japanese Nationals wrote:The Youth Mobility Scheme 2016 for Japanese nationals will be opened in January 2016. There will be 1000 places available to Japanese nationals, and if your application is successful you will be able to live, work and study in the UK for up to 2 years.

From your past experience, the limit may be reached in 2 days? Therefore, apply as early as possible in January?

vinny wrote:

Youth Mobility Scheme 2016 for Japanese Nationals wrote:The Youth Mobility Scheme 2016 for Japanese nationals will be opened in January 2016. There will be 1000 places available to Japanese nationals, and if your application is successful you will be able to live, work and study in the UK for up to 2 years.

From your past experience, the limit may be reached in 2 days? Therefore, apply as early as possible in January?

Thanks again for your quick response it is much appreciated. The thing is this information is concerning the 2016 process, which I was able to find online, by my query is in regards to 2017. What I don't understand is if this process will repeat itself in January 2017, why am I able to apply online for the visa now? It doesn't make any sense. im shocked that there is no information concerning this anywhere

Even if you are able to use the online application, they may come back by saying that the quota for 2016 is all filled up.

You should ask the Embassy when you may start applying under the 2017 quota.

vinny wrote:Even if you are able to use the online application, they may come back by saying that the quota for 2016 is all filled up.

You should ask the Embassy when you may start applying under the 2017 quota.

Thanks again Vinny. Unfortunately there is no way of contacting an embassy or visa help centre or anything here. The visa application centres only make contact once an application is made, and the embassy has an automated message that says they cannot help with visa queries. The visa centre in Osaka never answers there lines.

The only thing I can think of is to apply in December this year and just see if it is successful or not.

I am also in the same boat as you and am looking to bring my fiancee to the UK next year. From what I can gather, it seems that the information for the 2017 applications will be put up at the end of November as the information for the 2015 +2016 visas were published on 07/11 and 30/11. One thing that I don't understand though is that on the https://www.gov.uk/tier-5-youth-mobility/apply website it doesn't mention a maximum number of applicants based on eligible countries , nor does it seem to refer you to any "Youth Mobility Scheme for Japanese nationals" pages.