All Articles: No return rule

Making a mistake on an immigration application form can be disastrous. If the mistake is interpreted by officials as an attempt to mislead or deceive, the application will inevitably be refused. If the application was for entry clearance, it will also ...

The Home Office can impose entry bans on people who have previously breached immigration law or used deception in their application for leave. Bans can last one year, two years, five years or ten years. Generally speaking, and except for some minor ex ...

Sometimes a migrant here in the UK unlawfully will want to apply for immigration status. Lawyers and the Home Office often call this “regularising” their status, because the person becomes a “regular” migrant within the rules r ...

Criminal convictions and other signs of poor character can, unsurprisingly, negatively affect applications for leave to enter or remain in the UK. This has always been so, but in December 2012 the rules were changed to permanently ban entry of those w ...

Omenma (Conditional discharge – not a conviction of an offence) [2014] UKUT 314 (IAC) is an interesting case for two reasons. Firstly, the Home Office accepted that the decision was wrong and withdrew it. Nevertheless, because the case had reac ...

The first of these is a useful short case that came out while I was away called Shen (Paper appeals; proving dishonesty) [2014] UKUT 236 (IAC). It is another example of an applicant with a driving conviction who ticked the ‘no’ box to th ...

Mike Tyson has just been refused entry to the UK because of his previous conviction for rape (The Bookseller, The Guardian, BBC). He was due to promote his new book but his agents were unaware of the change to immigration rules, which occurred quietly ...

Where an immigration official alleges that a document used in an application is false or forged, a ‘Document Verification Report’ (DVR) is routinely prepared. This report states the reasons why immigration officials believe the document is ...

In the case of Mumu (paragraph 320; Article 8; scope) Bangladesh [2012] UKUT 143 (IAC) Judges of the Upper Tribunal Storey and Lane have dismissed an appeal against a refusal under paragraph 320(7A) of the Immigration Rules. This reads as follows: ( ...

There have been a number of interesting announcements by UKBA today, which I will add to the blog once I’ve had time to digest and consider. Most of them surround child detention and what is now being termed the ‘family returns processR ...

I’ve just been in court doing yet another case where a solicitor has advised a client to do the ‘right’ thing and go abroad to make an application for entry clearance. This is common in spouse cases and I have myself advised clients ...

Many thanks to David Chirico for showing me this case (who I understand was in turn tipped off by Muhunthan Paramesvaran at Wilson and Co), and to Seema Farazi (of Doughty Street) for arguing it. Why it has not been reported, one can only speculate. A ...

Practitioners have seen a considerable increase in the number of applications for entry clearance that have been refused on the general grounds for refusal. The reasons are often opaque at best. Some simply refer to the contents of a Document Verifica ...

Yet more good news, this time for children and their parents. In LD (Article 8 best interests of child) Zimbabwe [2010] UKUT 278 (IAC) the President of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has found that the UN Convention on the Ri ...

The Court of Appeal has adopted a helpfully limited approach to the meaning of ‘false representation’ in Immigration Rules 320(7A) and 322(1A), restricting it to cases of deliberate falsehood rather than accidental mistake. The case is AA ...

I’ve just come across an interesting little judgment on mandatory refusal cases. It is only a permission decision so it has limited precedent value, but it is worth highlighting. The case is SA (Pakistan) v SSHD [2009] EWCA Civ 1510 and concerns ...

The first case I’ve seen dealing with the notorious Immigration Rule 320 no-return provisions came out shortly before Christmas, although judgment was actually handed down ages ago, in April 2009. The case is MA (Nigeria) v Secretary of State fo ...

In an unusually dramatic move, the Presenting Officer in the recent case of KB (para: 320(7A): “false representations”) Albania [2009] UKAIT 00043 served a section 40 notice on a witness in the case, thereby depriving him of his British ci ...

It sounds from various internet forums as if the British High Commission at Canberra is getting tough on applicants for Tier 1. Where applications have been submitted that include evidence (e.g. payslips) that show the person has worked for more than ...

News from the front line is that Entry Clearance Officers (ECOs) are overturning refusals under immigration rule 320(7B) that were made before the string of concessions was announced. Just ask for a review, you shouldn’t have to make a second ap ...

One of the annoyingly frequent changes to the immigration rules has just been issued and can be found here. These sometimes come out as often as fortnightly, and I can remember a number of occasions when they have been so ill conceived they’ve h ...

Thanks for those who posted comments pointing the way to updated guidance to visa officers on the issue of contriving to frustrate immigration rules. The guidance is here and reads as follows: ‘Contrived in a significant way to undermine the int ...

Following on from the parliamentary debate last week, the Entry Clearance Guidance (ECG, until recently rather quaintly called the Diplomatic Service Instructions – I always thought the idea visa officers were diplomatic was rather optimistic) ...

Some great news on the re-entry ban saga. There was an unusually good debate in the Commons last night, when several MPs managed to put the screws on Liam Byrne, the Minister, and extracted three excellent concessions. All credit to those responsible, ...

Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, has written to the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) with some further clarification on the no return amendment to paragraph 320 of the immigration rules (see here, here and here for previous posts ...

The Home Office and UK Visas have published guidance on their website about how their decision-makers should apply the re-entry ban and the concession that was announced. Unfortunately, they appear to be sticking to the strict terms of the concession ...

In response to a comment left on my last post, I should make it clear that the concession as it stands in Hansard only applies to people currently in the UK who leave before 1 October 2008.  This really does not make sense as it penalises those who h ...

Immigration lawyers have been shocked by Government proposals to introduce from 1 April 2008 a re-entry ban on immigrants who have previously breached UK immigration laws. The ban was debated in the House of Lords last night. This is very rare for cha ...