This was the question before the Court of Appeal in R (X and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1480. The court decided that the answer is “yes”, with some caveats. Challenge to five-year delay pending fraud investigation The case concerned a family who...
Lurking in the weeds of the latest statement of changes are some tweaks to the procedural requirements in Part 1 of the Immigration Rules. Most take effect today. These provisions may not be the sexiest part of immigration law but they are worth paying attention to. Falling foul of a...
Scattered throughout the latest statement of changes like needles in a 186-page haystack are three COVID-19 concessions that previously only appeared in Home Office guidance. They will now form part of the Immigration Rules. In immigration law, a concession is a policy operated by the Home Office that is more...
Since the announcement of the new High Potential Individual route as part of the UK Innovation Strategy, there’s been considerable buzz about what it will mean for graduates around the world seeking to move to the UK. Until the new route is mapped out in a statement of changes to...
When it rains, it pours, and it has been pouring ten-year long residence cases. Here’s what we learned in just the last year: The difference between “book-ended” and “open-ended” overstaying (and that “book-ended” overstaying does not break continuous lawful residence) The maximum number of absences that someone can accrue over...
If you meet the financial requirements of Appendix FM at the date of application but your sponsor then leaves their job, do you still qualify for a spouse visa? Yes, the Upper Tribunal found in Begum (employment income; Rules/Article 8) [2021] UKUT 115 (IAC). Facts of the case Ms Begum,...
The Upper Tribunal in R (Waleed Ahmad Khattak) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (“eligible to apply”- LTR – “partner”) [2021] UKUT 63 (IAC) has provided helpful clarification on when having a partner can disqualify someone from getting permission to remain in the UK as a parent of...
The Home Office recently introduced a set of new validity requirements for visa applications under the Points Based Immigration System, such as the Skilled Worker route. This is significant because an invalid application doesn’t extend your permission to be in the UK while it is being considered (what’s called “section...
The English language requirement can be generously viewed as the Home Office’s response to the biblical Tower of Babel story: society is undermined by its people’s inability to speak the same language. But as anyone who has ever had the misfortune to read Home Office guidance can attest, it is...
The joy of working in immigration law is writing a 4,000 word briefing on the English language requirement, only to see a new provider added to the list three days after it is published, before an entirely new English language section of the Immigration Rules is announced two weeks later...
