News

01.11.2021 - Challenge to automatic British citizenship for Northern Irish people thrown out

In Re Ní Chuinneagain [2021] NIQB 79 the High Court in Northern Ireland has thrown out a challenge to automatic British citizenship for people who reject it.

The claimant is from Belfast and regards herself as 100% Irish, from passport to first language.

Section 1(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981 says that she is also a British citizen.

Ms Ní Chuinneagain objects, and refuses her unwanted second nationality, saying that “doing so would represent an acceptance that she was born a British citizen, in addition to having to pay the administrative cost involved”.

Mr Justice Scoffield conclude...

28.10.2021 - Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled the contents of his Budget in the House of Commons 27 October 2021.

Setting out the government's tax and spending plans for the year ahead, Mr Sunak said his plans were focused on the "post-Covid" era and would pave the way for an "economy of higher wages, higher skills, and rising productivity".

Here is a summary of the main points.

State of the economy and public finances

  • Inflation in September was 3.1% and is likely to rise to average 4% over next year, OBR says
  • UK economy forecast to return to pre-Covid levels by 2022
  • Annual growth set to re...

26.10.2021 - Early 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 on 25 October.

Paragraph 276ADE(1)(v) of the Immigration Rules allows people aged 18-24 inclusive, who have spent half of their life living continuously in the UK, to apply for permission to stay. The catch is that they remain on the immigration system treadmill for a long time.

While most migrants can settle in the UK after five years, young people with permission under th...

19.10.2021 - Can an immigration decision be put on ice during a criminal investigation?

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 applied to extend their permission in the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route in April 2017. Shortly before they lodged the applications, HM Revenue and Customs launched a criminal investigation into the main applicant, Mr X. He and 12 other people were suspected of being involved in a tax fraud conspiracy.

Mr X was ar...

18.10.2021 - Are children and parents able to apply to remain after seven years’ residence?

From a child’s perspective, seven years of residence in the UK can be literally a lifetime. It may be the sum of all the child’s experience and the UK may be the only home they know in any meaningful sense. On top of that, children do not make their own decisions about moving homes and countries. To put it another way, whilst adults make informed choices about where to live, children have to cope with the consequences of other people’s choices.

Paragraph 276ADE(1)(iv) of the Immigration Rules provides that a child may be granted permission to stay on the basis of their Article 8 right to a pri...

14.10.2021 - Pork butchers latest to get temporary visas

800 temporary Seasonal Worker visas will be made available to pork butchers, the British government announced on 14 October.

They will last for six months, with applications open until 31 December 2021.

Up to 800 pork butchers will be eligible to apply until the end of the year for six-month visas.

Environment Secretary George Eustice stated in this regard: "A unique range of pressures on the pig sector over recent months, such as the impacts of the pandemic and its effect on export markets, have led to the temporary package of measures we are announcing. This is the result of close working wi...

11.10.2021 - Visa scheme for HGV drivers and poultry workers launched

The Home Office has published a short statement of changes to the Immigration Rules. It is to implement the emergency temporary visa schemes for HGV drivers and poultry workers and therefore comes into force at 4pm today. Employers in those sectors will be able to request workers from four named recruitment agencies.

The visas will be granted under the existing Seasonal Worker route. Appendix Seasonal Worker is therefore being amended. In addition to the existing eligibility for “edible horticulture” workers, Seasonal Worker will be open to:

  • the poultry production sector
  • haulage drivi...

06.10.2021 - Short-term work on a visit visa

British businesses have long relied on workers from the European Union to come in for short or medium-term projects. Before Brexit, this was frictionless from an immigration perspective. People arrived, people worked, people left and businesses were happy.

EU free movement ended (for the UK) on 31 December 2020, but the impact was largely masked by the pandemic which struck Europe weeks later. With borders and workplaces now opening back up, businesses are being confronted with post-free movement realities.

The first instinct is to turn to the Points Based Immigration System for sponsoring wor...

05.10.2021 - Pandora papers could serve as a signal for business to the abandonment of offshore

Hundreds of thousands of organizations and individuals around the world allocate capital in other states, including offshore. All of this primarily happens to get advantages due to tax exemptions on a legal basis. According to the IMF, there are over 60 countries in the world that are offshore zones. There are also a dozen countries where separate regions and even cities are offshore.

The offshore world consists of dozens of zones. Some of them are very “dubious”. These are mainly island offshore – public companies and persons who value their reputation, try to stay away from such offshore as ...

04.10.2021 - New immigration concession for fuel tanker drivers

Certain foreign citizens who can drive fuel tankers can enter the UK without a visa until 15 October under a new immigration concession.

The Home Office published the Concession for temporary leave to allow employment as HGV fuel drivers on Saturday 2 October. It allows entry outside the normal Immigration Rules until 15 October, with permission lasting until 31 March 2022, for people who:

  • Are not visa nationals
  • Have an EU licence to drive HGV fuel tankers
  • Have an “endorsement letter” from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
  • Will be employed as a fuel t...

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