News

Oct 29, 2020 - “Compassionate” Home Office targets rough sleepers, again

Оver the past few months the Home Office seems to have entertained only the most inhumane immigration policies, such as offshore “asylum processing centres” mirroring Australia’s notorious Nauru detention centre, and using nets to clog the propellers of refugee boats crossing the Channel.

Now added to this list is a renewed focus on migrant rough sleepers. Buried in the 514-page statement of changes to the Immigration Rules that dropped last week is the revelation that the Home Office will again be targeting migrants who suffer the misfortune of sleeping on the streets.

The new rough sleeping ...

Oct 26, 2020 - New-look Appendix V: changes to UK visit visa rules from 1 December 2020

With the end of EU free movement nearly here and the visitor route likely to see greater use in future, changes to the route have (in the nick of time) now been announced. A new Appendix V will replace the existing version, with a key focus on a consolidated and simplified set of visitor rules.

As with any type of change, trying to simplify the Rules can — inadvertently or not — have an impact on the substance of the rules as well. In this article we take a look at some substantive changes to the visitor route, which take effect from 9 am on 1 December 2020.

Travel documents vs ID documents

Cu...

Oct 26, 2020 - Welcome 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 held that any applicant who had overstayed for any period of time in between visas would be ineligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain after ten years of otherwise lawful residence – was incorrectly decided.

In the course of making its decision, both the Secretary of State and the Immigration Rules in general come in for some pretty robust critic...

Oct 22, 2020 - New, improved English language requirements for immigration applications

The creatively named ‘Appendix English Language’ (in its second iteration) will take effect at 9am on 1 December 2020; any application made before this highly specific date will be treated under the old rules. Unlike Appendix English Language the First, which only applied to the Appendix Student route, the new Appendix will apply to all applications made under the following routes:

Oct 22, 2020 - New Changes to the Immigration Rules – effective from 01 December 2020

The long-awaited Statement of Changes giving us more details on the famous new Points-Based Immigration System has now been published.

Below is a summary of the most important immigration changes.

Timing

First of all, what happens when?

  • Most changes take effect on 1 December 2020.

  • Most changes relating to provisions for Irish citizens, Appendix EU, Appendix ECAA and Appendix FM take effect on 31 December 2020. However, changes relating to cancellation, curtailment and revocation of leave to enter or remain for Appendix EU take effect on 1 December 2020.

  • Ch...

Oct 22, 2020 - Supreme Court finds treatment of skilled worker unfair

The Supreme Court held today in R (on the application of Pathan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 41 that the Home Office’s treatment of a Tier 2 skilled worker, Mr Pathan, was unfair. Mr Pathan had applied for an extension of his visa as a sponsored worker in good time, but his application was refused several months later after the Home Office had, without telling him, revoked his employer’s sponsorship licence. This revocation meant that Mr Pathan’s application was, ultimately, doomed to fail.

Mr Pathan was left unlawfully resident in the UK with no warning and, after...

Oct 21, 2020 - The UK Chancellor increases financial support for businesses and workers

The government today announced it will significantly increase the generosity and reach of its winter support schemes to ensure livelihoods and jobs across the UK continue to be protected in the difficult months to come, supporting jobs and helping to contain the virus.

The chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled increased support for businesses, jobs and workers hit by Covid restrictions after growing clamour from firms in tier two areas.

Job Support Scheme (JSS)

Recognising the pressure businesses in some sectors and areas are facing, today’s announcement lightens the burden of keeping on staff.

...

Oct 19, 2020 - Most visa applications to be done on smartphones

The Home Office has been rolling out new webpages for the public on how to get a visa, in preparation for the new points-based immigration system due to be rolled out from 1 January 2021. One such page was published yesterday, aimed at EU citizens. The overall message is “yes, you will in fact need a visa now” but there’s one section that caught our eye:

Most people will be able to complete their [visa] application, including identity verification, using a smartphone app. Some applicants may need to attend a Visa Application Centre depending on the route they are applying for and whether they ...

Oct 15, 2020 - Coronavirus and the UK immigration system (as of 16 October 2020)

Spouses and minimum income

Another group of people under particular pressure during the crisis is families where one partner is on, or about to apply for, a spouse visa. Loss of earnings as a result of the coronavirus-induced economic crash may mean that the family fall foul of the financial requirements.

Until 8 June there was no published concession for people in this situation. There is now a section of the guidance on Changes to the minimum income and adequate maintenance requirement. It says:

If you’ve experienced a loss of income due to coronavirus up to 1 January 2021, we will consider ...

Oct 12, 2020 - Non-resident landlords move to corporation tax

HMRC has published guidance on changes to the rules from April 2020. According to the guidance, non-UK resident landlord companies (NRL) including those who invest in UK property through collective investment vehicles will need to pay Corporation Tax instead of Income Tax on profits from UK property from 6 April 2020. The tax year 2019/20 is also the final year in which the company tax return form SA700 is required to be submitted by the subsequent 31 January.

While this brings a reduction in the current applicable tax rate from 20% to 19%, the changing landscape means that NRLs now face heavi...

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