All Articles: indefinite leave to remain
Briefing: indefinite leave to remain for people with refugee status or humanitarian protection
A successful application for asylum or humanitarian protection in the UK results in the grant of five years’ permission to stay, on what is known as a “protection route”. People granted permission on a protection route then need to a ...
11th April 2022Court of Appeal game-changer for validity and continuous residence
Masquerading as a somewhat niche decision about non-payment of the Immigration Health Surcharge, R (Afzal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1909 is a beast of a case that: Extends the Mirza exception to retrospective invali ...
23rd December 2021Appendix Settlement Protection: indefinite leave to remain for refugees
Appendix Settlement Protection to the Immigration Rules came into force on 6 October 2021. As the name might suggest, it consolidates the rules on settlement for people who have been in the UK on a protection route (i.e. refugee status or humanitarian ...
11th November 2021Early settlement concession for young people living half their lives in the UK
Some young people born or brought up in the UK without immigration status can now apply for settlement after five years rather than ten. The change in policy comes in a new and very welcome Home Office concession, published yesterday. What follows is ...
26th October 2021New statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 617
On 10 September 2021 the Home Office published a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 617). It is 183 pages long and makes adjustments in quite a number of areas. Some of the main changes are: Banning entry to the UK with an ID card rathe ...
13th September 2021Home Office can revoke settlement over historical deception
In another reminder that leave obtained by deception can be revoked, we have the Upper Tribunal decision in R (Matusha) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (revocation of ILR policy) [2021] UKUT 175 (IAC). The case confirms that there “ ...
19th July 2021“Open-ended” overstayers can’t rely on ten-year lawful residence rule
This, in a sentence, is the conclusion reached by the Upper Tribunal (after 248 paragraphs!) in R (Waseem & Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (long residence policy – interpretation) [2021] UKUT 146 (IAC). Background: over ...
23rd June 2021Interjacent overstaying may count in 10-year long residence application
In Asif (Paragraph 276B, disregard, previous overstaying) Pakistan [2021] UKUT 96 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal has confirmed that previously disregarded overstaying between periods of leave should be treated as lawful residence for people making 10-year l ...
30th April 2021Indefinite leave to remain can be revoked, but not cancelled
We get it: immigration law is tricky. Even so, C1 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 242 (Admin) is on another level and is probably best summarised by this GIF: Math Calculate GIF from Math GIFs The gist of the decision is that ...
15th February 2021Settlement as a Skilled Worker – what you need to know
Since 1 December 2020, migrants who would previously have applied for settlement in the UK (aka “indefinite leave to remain”) under the Tier 2 (General) route now need to apply under the new Skilled Worker route. In this article we explain ...
10th December 2020Welcome Court of Appeal U-turn on ten-year lawful residence gaps
In Hoque & Ors v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 1357 the Court of Appeal addressed the issue of gaps in lawful residence in ten-year long residence applications. It found that the previous authority of R (Masum Ahmed) v SSHD [2019] EWCA Civ 1070 – which ...
26th October 2020Windrush migrants were wrongly barred from the UK despite having indefinite leave to remain
For many of the Windrush generation it was the hostile environment which signalled the start of their wrongful exclusion from society and, in some cases, the UK itself. For others, the injustice started much earlier. Between 1973 and 1988, many Common ...
5th October 2020People who lie to the Home Office are unlikely to get indefinite leave to remain
Last year, in the important case of Balajigari [2019] EWCA Civ 673, the Court of Appeal ruled that, before refusing a settlement application on the basis that the person applying has been dishonest, the Home Office must: Let the applicant know that th ...
28th April 2020Home Office can refuse settlement to those on long-term Discretionary Leave
Where policy guidance says that indefinite leave to remain (ILR) should “normally” be granted after six years of Discretionary Leave, can the Home Office ever depart from this policy? The Upper Tribunal judgment in R (Ellis) v Secretary of ...
20th March 2020New Home Office guidance on refusing settlement over tax discrepancies
The Home Office has published specific guidance on settlement applications by migrants who previously held Tier 1 (General) leave and who declared different sets of earnings to the Home Office and HMRC. The document must be read alongside the more gen ...
20th January 2020Does ANY overstaying rule out settlement after 10 years’ long residence? Confusion after Court of Appeal ruling
Migrants who have spent ten years in the UK with continuous and lawful leave can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Can leave be “continuous” if it involved short gaps between lawful periods of leave where an applicant has oversta ...
27th June 2019Major judgment finds Home Office policy of ejecting migrants over tax discrepancies “legally flawed”
The Court of Appeal has handed down a blockbuster judgment on the highly controversial use of paragraph 322(5) of the Immigration Rules to refuse settlement to migrants over alleged tax discrepancies. It says that the Home Office’s stance in the ...
16th April 201917 years and counting for an indefinite leave to remain decision
I acted for the appellant in the extraordinary case of Guled v SSHD [2019] EWCA Civ 92, in which the Court of Appeal ruled on the legal status of a deportation order made in 2002. 2002: deportation order made Even by immigration standards, Mr G had a ...
1st March 2019Briefing: the rules on returning residents with indefinite leave to remain (ILR)
Indefinite leave to remain in the UK is a type of immigration status that means a person can live and work in the UK for as long as they like, with no further need to apply for a visa extension. Occasionally, though, people with ILR are refused entry ...
1st November 2018Refugee “safe return reviews” needlessly causing anxiety, statistics suggest
About 18 months ago, the Home Office announced that refugees would no longer get indefinite leave to remain automatically after being in the UK for five years. Officials are now supposed to review whether the refugee still needs the protection of the ...
23rd October 2018What happens if you mistakenly apply for British citizenship instead of indefinite leave to remain?
What happens when an American graduate, about to become eligible for indefinite leave to remain having lived lawfully in the UK for almost a decade, incorrectly thinks that he is eligible to apply for British citizenship and applies for that instead? ...
17th August 2018The meaning of “residence” for indefinite leave to remain applications
In the case of R (Nesiama & Ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 1369, the Court of Appeal found that “residence” in the UK means “physical presence”, such that continuous residence in an application for indefi ...
27th June 2018Waive immigration fees for soldiers from overseas
The ill-treatment of Commonwealth soldiers may no longer make headlines, but scandalously high immigration fees are depriving many of those who have served this country of their right to settle in Britain, writes Vinita Templeton of Duncan Lewis. The ...
18th May 2018Do you need to worry about Brexit if you have indefinite leave to remain?
An EU citizen with indefinite leave to remain in this country has taken the drastic step to leave the UK because of Brexit. You might have seen the story on Twitter, where it went viral. 24/ So my mum has taken the decision to return to the country of ...
11th April 2018Appeal judges take firm line on settlement for people committing crimes against humanity
The Court of Appeal in Tanvir Babar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 329 dealt with the application of Immigration Rule 276B. The court highlighted the tensions between the Home Office policy, the application of the Immigra ...
7th March 2018Why doctors are being kicked out in the middle of an NHS crisis
In the midst of an “NHS crisis”, with two in three hospitals said to have a shortage of doctors, immigration laws appear to be making the situation worse. Last week iNews reported that dozens of medics with offers to work in the NHS had their vi ...
24th January 2018Big changes to continuous residence rule for ILR applicants
Hidden within December’s statement of changes (HC309) to the Immigration Rules are new provisions that will affect how the Home Office assesses continuous residence for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) applications. Certain visa categories require a ...
8th January 2018High Court quashes refusal of settlement to highly skilled migrant family
From the main Garden Court Chambers website regarding the case of Granovski & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1478 (Admin): The High Court today handed down judgment on a judicial review challenging the Secretary ...
9th June 2015Pankina, work permits, and ILR
A new case from the High Court offers an interpretation of Pankina that might give hope to work permit holders applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). Singh J in R (Ahmed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWHC 2855 (Admin) c ...
15th November 2011Watch out old work permit holders…
Back on 6 April 2011 the UK Border Agency made a change to the settlement rules for work permit holders who had entered the UK before the Points Based System was introduced. The change required a work permit holder to be paid a certain salary in order ...
2nd November 2011