News

May 15, 2019 - Government plans to change UK Immigration System

In early May 2019, Home Office Secretary Sajid Javid met with representatives of Scottish businesses in the city of Aberdeen and discussed with them the government’s plans to introduce a new immigration system. This meeting took place within the framework of yearlong engagement programme, the purpose of which is to listen to the opinions of businesses and communities regarding the proposed changes.

The new immigration system will be based on the skills of each individual applicant, rather than on his/her nationality, and will be implemented in stages from 2021 after the end of free movement fo...

May 14, 2019 - Change of the Home Office policy regarding Zambrano carers

On 2 May 2019, the Home Office published an updated guide for “Derivative rights of residence” category, which includes information about the rights of primary carers of EEA nationals in the UK under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 (the 2016 regulations). The 63-page document comes with an unexpected twist for the Zambrano cases.

Zambrano principle applies to persons from a country outside the European Union, who provide care for a British citizen (child or dependent adult) in the UK. His/her presence in the country is mandatory to allow the child or the adult dependa...

Apr 24, 2019 - EU citizens can retain worker status for six months after several weeks of casual work

The Court of Justice of the European Union has decided that EU nationals can retain their status as workers for six months, even if they have only worked for two weeks in any EU country. Such a decision was reached in the Case C‑483/17 in “Tarola v Minister for Social Protection” which was about a Romanian national residing in Ireland. The Irish courts made a preliminary request to the Court of Justice asking for guidance on whether two weeks of work on a casual rather than fixed term contract was enough to entitle the person to a worker status during the six months of involuntary unemployment...

Apr 17, 2019 - Tightening the Home Office policy on good character requirement during naturalisation

In January 2019, the Home Office published new 53-page guide “Good character requirement”, which describes when an applicant is considered a person of a good character. For the first time the Home Office states that people who have overstayed at any point over the last ten years will be refused in naturalisation applications with only one exception – when overstaying is the only negative factor affecting the good character of the applicant, and one of the following conditions are met:

∙ the person’s application for leave to remain was made before 24 November 2016 and within 28 days of the expi...

Apr 16, 2019 - The Home Office ILR refusals for Tier 1 (General) applicants under paragraph 322 (5) of the Immigration Rules have been recognised as “legally flawed”

Following our recent article on the rise in the number of ILR refusals of highly skilled migrants, including the Tier 1 (General) category, we now bring further update after the Balajigari ruling.

In some of the cases in question, the Home Office refers to the paragraph 322 (5) of the Immigration Rules, designed to tackle criminals and those who pose a threat to national security. According to the latest data, around 1,000 migrants under Tier 1 category could not obtain ILR status, because they made amendments to their tax returns, which the Home Office interpreted as a violation of law.

Visa ...

Apr 14, 2019 - Government plans to ban no-fault evictions of tenants whose short-term rent agreements have finished

In line with the new government proposal, private landlords in England will no longer be able to evict tenants without a good reason after their short-term rent agreements expire. First Minister Mark Drakeford also announced similar plans for Wales, while in Scotland, legislation introduced in 2017, requires homeowners to have legal reason for the termination of the lease. There are no plans to change the current system in Northern Ireland, where the tenants can be evicted without a reason if the rent agreement has expired. The government claims that by introducing changes to the system it wan...

Apr 10, 2019 - New Brexit date has been agreed

The leaders of the European Union granted Britain a six-month Brexit extension. New date of Brexit is 31 October 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted on a shorter extension and assured residents of the United Kingdom that in any case the government would seek to leave the EU as soon as possible.

What exactly was agreed during the negotiations in Brussels?

• The UK can leave the EU at any time, but no later than 31 October 2019;

• The UK must participate in the European Parliament election. If this does not happen, the country will leave the EU without a deal on 1 June 2019;

• The ...

Apr 07, 2019 - Endorsements for Innovator or Startup visa

From 29 March 2019, the Home Office launched two new visa categories, Innovator and Start-up, which replaced the Tier 1 Entrepreneur category. The Tier 1 Entrepreneur route is now completely closed and no new applications will be accepted. It is however possible to have your stay extended or to apply for ILR if you were issued with a Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa before the cut-off date.

One of the main requirements of the Immigration Rules to obtain Innovator or Start-up visa is to get an endorsement from an authorized UK organization. The full list of endorsement bodies was recently published by ...

Apr 03, 2019 - When is it not possible for EU citizens to rely on human rights in their immigration appeals?

The Tribunal in case of  Munday (EEA decision: grounds of appeal) [2019] UKUT 91 (IAC), confirmed that in appeals against residence decisions for EU citizens, the applicant cannot rely on human rights if the appeal was violation of applicant's rights to enter and reside in the UK under European Treaties.  In this case, the appellant could only rely on arguments related to EU legislation and not Human Rights ground.

Mar 28, 2019 - Home Office opens seven new centres for dealing with complex immigration cases

The Home Office has announced that there are currently seven service and support centres opened for customers with particularly complex immigration matters. Appointments are booked free of charge. Experienced UKVI staff will be able to assist applicants in the following immigration categories:

- Family route

- Dependent family members

-  Family reunion visas

- Applying as statelessness person

- Fee waiver or exemption applicants

- Victims of domestic violence

- Further submission after unsuccessful asylum claim

- Those who only need to enrol biometric information.

Service centres are located i...