The Migration Advisory Committee has published its report on the minimum income requirement for families of British or settled migrants and has recommended that the
Following on from my look at the proposals for work and student routes, I have now tackled the rest of the immigration white paper. There
This post is intended for refugees (including those with humanitarian protection), their families and their friends trying to understand the rules on refugee family reunion.
It’s been a year since the armed forces immigration rules were ‘simplified‘ and Appendix HM Armed Forces was published, replacing Appendix Armed Forces. This article highlights
Asylum Aid’s legal challenge to the lawfulness of the statelessness family reunion rules has been comprehensively upheld. The judgement was handed down by the High
Fee waivers (meaning that the application can be made without paying the fee) are available for people who are outside the UK and who are
The Appendix FM minimum income requirements for spouse and partner visas can catch out even those with enough money to meet them. Having the money
“Although I have considerable sympathy for Mr Tomlinson, we are unable to wind back the clock so as to put right the historic injustice”. This
In the recent case of Butt v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 189, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal
This article explains how to make a successful change of conditions application where a person needs to lift the no recourse to public funds restriction
Many UK immigration categories impose a requirement that the visa holder must not be outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month
In this post we are going to look at the requirements for children to obtain permission to enter and stay in the UK under Appendix
The statistics for the period July to September 2024 have been published today, showing a very large drop in health and care worker visas, a
This post is about what happens to a migrant who is in the UK on a partner visa if their sponsor passes away. If their
Since July 2012 the immigration rules for adult dependent relatives have been, in practice, almost impossible to meet. Adult dependent relative visas have one of the
The immigration rules permit a parent living overseas, who has British or settled children living in the UK, to apply for a visa to come
People from Commonwealth countries often ask whether they can get a British visa on the basis of their country’s historical ties to the UK. The
The change to the immigration rules on 11 April 2024 regarding how absences would be calculated in the long residence route initially caused a lot
Immigration and nationality law as it relates to international adoption is undoubtedly complex and a topic with which only a few practitioners are familiar. There
The Home Office introduced immigration concessions and special visa schemes in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These were the Ukraine family
The Home Office has published statistics for the period January to March 2024 showing a marked drop in the grant rate for asylum cases, tens
In other posts we have looked at the requirements to be satisfied by a spouse or partner who seek leave to enter or remain. Under
Spouses and partners of British citizens or people settled in the UK can apply for a visa to join or remain with their loved ones.
As previously advised, today a statement of changes and explanatory memorandum to the immigration rules was published to bring in the income threshold increases for
As trailed previously, a statement of changes has been published today removing the rights of care workers to bring dependants to the UK. What was
Since 31 January 2024, victims of transnational marriage abandonment can apply for a visa to return to the UK. This follows the landmark case of
The Home Office has made changes to the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession by publishing new guidance and a new application form today. There is a
Domestic violence is a serious infringement of someone’s rights. While most often perpetrated against women, it can affect people from any background and part of
A ministerial statement made today has confirmed that there are two statements of changes coming in the next couple of months. The first will remove
“This is a very dark day for many families who will be unable to meet the … new income requirement” commented Sonia on the day
Reunite Families UK, a lived experience organisation, have published a timely new report looking at the negative mental health impact of family separation caused by
The Home Office has recently updated its guidance to clarify that leave under the Hong Kong BN(O) route cannot be cancelled because of relationship breakdown.
The “sole responsibility” immigration test comes into play where one of the parents of a child is relocating to the United Kingdom and one parent
Adult dependent relative visas have one of the highest refusal rates of all immigration routes. Between 2017 and 2020, 96% of applications were refused. In
The immigration rules are full of harsh general rules accompanied by potential exceptions. These exceptions require a subjective judgment to be made and they make
The adult dependent relative rules have been buried in Appendix FM since their inception on 9 July 2012. From 1 June 2023, they have been
The scandal of asylum-seeking children going missing from Home Office hotels (Ministers resist terms such as ‘kidnapped’) is an extreme situation. But they are not
The Home Office is not beloved as an institution. Some consider it necessary. But no-one likes it. That seems to include not just migrants and
The minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa is well known. Broadly speaking, applicants must show that their sponsor has a gross annual income
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has published a new report reviewing the Home Office’s processing of family visas, with a focus on
The Migration Advisory Committee has published its report on the minimum income requirement for families of British or settled migrants and has recommended that the government does not increase the minimum income threshold to the skilled worker threshold of £38,700 from the current level of £29,000. The call for evidence...
This post is intended for refugees (including those with humanitarian protection), their families and their friends trying to understand the rules on refugee family reunion. The requirements to be met are fairly straightforward and simple for children and partners who existed at the time the refugee fled their country of origin. These...
It’s been a year since the armed forces immigration rules were ‘simplified‘ and Appendix HM Armed Forces was published, replacing Appendix Armed Forces. This article highlights the anomalies within the rules created by the unique status of serving personnel, summarises the discretions in place for both serving personnel and families and...
Asylum Aid’s legal challenge to the lawfulness of the statelessness family reunion rules has been comprehensively upheld. The judgement was handed down by the High Court on 14 February and has not been appealed. The case is Asylum Aid v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 316...
Fee waivers (meaning that the application can be made without paying the fee) are available for people who are outside the UK and who are making certain types of entry clearance applications but cannot afford the fee. This is important as the fees are set at a level that is...
The Appendix FM minimum income requirements for spouse and partner visas can catch out even those with enough money to meet them. Having the money only takes you so far: the income must come from a specific source, must be calculated in a certain way, and specified evidence must be...
“Although I have considerable sympathy for Mr Tomlinson, we are unable to wind back the clock so as to put right the historic injustice”. This quote perfectly summarises the bittersweet victory for the appellant in the recent Court of Appeal case of R (Tomlinson) v Secretary of State for the...
This article explains how to make a successful change of conditions application where a person needs to lift the no recourse to public funds restriction (NRPF) from their grant of leave. This article is written for applicants as well as for the lawyers and advisors who may be assisting in...
Many UK immigration categories impose a requirement that the visa holder must not be outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period — that is, if the person wants to apply for indefinite leave to remain. The good news is that this rule doesn’t apply to...
The statistics for the period July to September 2024 have been published today, showing a very large drop in health and care worker visas, a lesser but still significant drop in students, a fall in the asylum grant rate that doesn’t seem likely to achieve much beyond creating further chaos...
This post is about what happens to a migrant who is in the UK on a partner visa if their sponsor passes away. If their partner dies before the migrant becomes settled, the last thing on their mind will be their immigration status. However, as status as a partner is...
Since July 2012 the immigration rules for adult dependent relatives have been, in practice, almost impossible to meet. Adult dependent relative visas have one of the highest refusal rates of all immigration routes. Between 2017 and 2020, 96% of applications were refused. But they don’t all fail. In the right circumstances supported...
The immigration rules permit a parent living overseas, who has British or settled children living in the UK, to apply for a visa to come to live with them. In this post we will consider the requirements that a parent applying for a visa in this category must meet in...
People from Commonwealth countries often ask whether they can get a British visa on the basis of their country’s historical ties to the UK. The answer is, generally speaking, “no”. But there is one route which is open only to, although not to all, Commonwealth nationals: the UK Ancestry visa....
The change to the immigration rules on 11 April 2024 regarding how absences would be calculated in the long residence route initially caused a lot of confusion because the drafting of the new rules was ambiguous, yet the updated guidance seemed to suggest that the 548 day limit no longer...
Immigration and nationality law as it relates to international adoption is undoubtedly complex and a topic with which only a few practitioners are familiar. There are numerically very few international adoption cases, after all. The inevitable cross over with family law does not make it any easier. This blog post...
The Home Office introduced immigration concessions and special visa schemes in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These were the Ukraine family scheme, Ukraine extension scheme, and Homes for Ukraine scheme. The department’s “core plan” was to issue visas rather than formal refugee status to Ukrainian citizens,...
The Home Office has published statistics for the period January to March 2024 showing a marked drop in the grant rate for asylum cases, tens of thousands of EU Settlement Scheme applications rejected as invalid, and a fee waiver backlog that seems to be rapidly spiralling out of control. My...
In other posts we have looked at the requirements to be satisfied by a spouse or partner who seek leave to enter or remain. Under Appendix FM, the sponsor can be a British citizen, a settled person, a refugee, or someone with humanitarian protection, limited leave under Appendix EU, Appendix...
Spouses and partners of British citizens or people settled in the UK can apply for a visa to join or remain with their loved ones. These applications are dealt with by the Home Office under the immigration rules. Specifically, the part of the rules that applicants need to navigate are...
As previously advised, today a statement of changes and explanatory memorandum to the immigration rules was published to bring in the income threshold increases for both skilled worker and Appendix FM partner routes. The immigration minister made a statement summarising the changes relating to the skilled worker, Appendix FM partner,...
As trailed previously, a statement of changes has been published today removing the rights of care workers to bring dependants to the UK. What was not mentioned in advance was that this statement of changes would also close the Ukraine Family Scheme with immediate effect (from 3pm 19 February 2024),...
Since 31 January 2024, victims of transnational marriage abandonment can apply for a visa to return to the UK. This follows the landmark case of R on the application of AM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 2591 (Admin). This post looks at how to make...
The Home Office has made changes to the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession by publishing new guidance and a new application form today. There is a new acronym for practitioners to learn as the concession has been re-branded as the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC). The big change is...
Domestic violence is a serious infringement of someone’s rights. While most often perpetrated against women, it can affect people from any background and part of society. Migrants can be particularly vulnerable and unwilling to seek help because of their precarious status in the UK. This article looks at in country...
A ministerial statement made today has confirmed that there are two statements of changes coming in the next couple of months. The first will remove the ability of care workers to bring dependants, and the second will include the increase to the minimum income requirement for families, among other changes....
“This is a very dark day for many families who will be unable to meet the … new income requirement” commented Sonia on the day the Home Secretary announced that the minimum income requirement for partners under Appendix FM was going to be raised. Her view is shared by many immigration...
Reunite Families UK, a lived experience organisation, have published a timely new report looking at the negative mental health impact of family separation caused by the immigration rules, particularly the minimum income requirement. The research looks at the current position, which is shortly to become considerably worse when the increase...
The Home Office has recently updated its guidance to clarify that leave under the Hong Kong BN(O) route cannot be cancelled because of relationship breakdown. Background Like most other immigration routes, a dependent spouse/ partner under the Hong Kong BN(O) route needs to show the Home Office that they are...
The “sole responsibility” immigration test comes into play where one of the parents of a child is relocating to the United Kingdom and one parent remains abroad. The United Kingdom’s immigration rules effectively presume that a child should remain outside the country with the other parent, unless the parent moving...
Adult dependent relative visas have one of the highest refusal rates of all immigration routes. Between 2017 and 2020, 96% of applications were refused. In this article I look at why these applications often go wrong and what you can do to try make them go right. This is not...
The immigration rules are full of harsh general rules accompanied by potential exceptions. These exceptions require a subjective judgment to be made and they make the rules complex. They also manufacture risk for applicants, making the outcome of immigration applications hard to predict. Unpredictability, combined with the high financial and...
The adult dependent relative rules have been buried in Appendix FM since their inception on 9 July 2012. From 1 June 2023, they have been transposed into their own standalone Appendix Adult Dependent Relative. The new appendix was announced in the 9 March 2023 Statement of Changes to the Immigration...
The scandal of asylum-seeking children going missing from Home Office hotels (Ministers resist terms such as ‘kidnapped’) is an extreme situation. But they are not the only children suffering at the hands of the UK’s migration policies. The Lords Justice and Home Affairs Select Committee has recently published All families...
The Home Office is not beloved as an institution. Some consider it necessary. But no-one likes it. That seems to include not just migrants and their families but also many of the civil servants at the Home Office itself, the lawyers and judges who interact with the Home Office and...
The minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa is well known. Broadly speaking, applicants must show that their sponsor has a gross annual income of at least £18,600. Alternatively, they can rely on savings or, if they are already in the UK and working legally, on their income....
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has published a new report reviewing the Home Office’s processing of family visas, with a focus on indefinite leave to remain applications. It highlights that despite the findings of the Law Commission in its report, and the Home Office’s commitment to simplifying...
