News

Aug 21, 2018 - Important update for people with European and British citizenship

According to the decision of the Upper Tribunal in the case of Kovacevic (British citizen - Art 21 TFEU) Croatia [2018] UKUT 273 (IAC), residents who have dual citizenship of any EU country and the United Kingdom, cannot rely on the European law when obtaining residency rights for their family members in case they have never exercised their Treaty rights of free movement in the UK.

In the case above, Mrs Kovacevic had dual citizenship – British and Croatian. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1997 and was naturalised as a British citizen in 2007. It is worth mentioning that she became a Britis...

Aug 19, 2018 - Home Office Super Premium Service might stop operating from November 2018

As we have been informed today by the Home Office Super Premium officials, the service might stop operating from November 2018 and no visa categories will be processed anymore.

However the final confirmation and dates of potential termination of the service are yet to be announced in or around October this year.

Aug 16, 2018 - Ukrainian draft evader loses his appeal in the Upper Tribunal

In its latest decision, the Upper Tribunal ruled that asylum cannot be granted to citizens of Ukraine on the ground that they are obliged to undertake compulsory military service in the Ukrainian army, even if it involves participation in the current hostilities along Ukraine’s southern border.

In case [2018] UKUT 241 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal refused asylum to the Ukrainian citizen who evaded military service, despite being aware of the fact that participation in a military conflict may lead to acts which are contrary to basic human conduct. The Upper Tribunal found that practically most of t...

Aug 02, 2018 - New guidance on the cost awards procedure in immigration appeals

The President of the First-tier Immigration and Asylum Tribunal has issued guidance notes on legal costs paid by the Home Office to those immigrants who won their cases on appeal. It was stated that costs to be awarded for cases of “unreasonable conduct”, which is where the Home Office pursued the appeal despite very low merits of success. The guidance also obliges Home Office officials to carry out mandatory initial assessment of each immigration case within six weeks of filing an appeal to assess the merits and decide whether the Home Office should continue challenging the matter at the Trib...

Aug 01, 2018 - Bank of England raises interest rates

On 2nd August 2018 the Bank of England announced an increase in the interest rate by a quarter of one percent, from 0.5% to 0.75%. This increases the cost of borrowing to the highest level since March 2009.

This increase in the interest rate will be bad news for around three and a half million residential mortgage holders in the UK. As an example, for a variable mortgage of £150,000 at the interest rate of 0.75%, the increase in the annual cost will be approximately £224.

The rise in the interest rate was expected back in May this year, but the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee decided to postp...

Jul 22, 2018 - Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules introducing new EU Settlement Scheme

On the 20th July 2018 Parliament presented the Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules introducing new EU Settlement Scheme for post Brexit status confirmation. The new Appendix EU describes the rules under which EU citizens and their family members can obtain a settled status in the UK after Brexit. These changes take effect on the 28th of August 2018 for the purpose of initial trial.

Appendix EU is the legislation under which EU citizens and their families can apply for leave to remain in the UK under the Immigration Rules of Great Britain. The trial period of the new EU Settlement Sch...

Jul 19, 2018 - Home Office unlawfully nullified hundreds of British citizenship

The new data from Home Office shows that since 2013 hundreds of British citizens have unlawfully lost their citizenship. According to the Freedom of Information Request, there were 262 cases of nullification of British citizenship from 2007 to 2017, of which 176 happened in 2013. In December 2017, Supreme Court in overwhelming majority decision, found that the nullification of citizenship were unlawful. Currently, the Status Review Unit reconsidering the historic applications made during the particular period.

Home Office can either nullify or deprive citizenship. The nullification of the citi...

Jul 12, 2018 - The British government has published the final version of its blueprint for UK relations with the EU

The so-called White Paper explains the position of the British government, which on the one hand wants to maintain close trade relations with the EU countries, and on the other be able to enter into new trade agreements with other countries.

Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, said that The White Paper was created in line with the results of the referendum in 2016, when 51.9% voted in favor of Britain leaving the EU.

The UK is due to leave the EU on the 29th of March 2019, after which the so-called transition period will start. The transition period will last until the 31st December 2020.

The Whit...

Jul 10, 2018 - Home office profit from application visa fees for the registration of children as British citizens

Over the past five years, Home Office has received about £ 100 million in profits from visa fees for the registration of children as British citizens. The controversially high registration fee for children has reached £ 1 012 this year. This figure is several times higher than the estimated administrative costs to process visa applications. Last year, the profit from one application was £587. In 2017/18 33,000 children were successfully registered as British citizens, which brought Home Office income of £19 million in excess of the costs incurred.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed the...

Jul 09, 2018 - Jeremy Hunt replaced Boris Johnson as Minister of Foreign Affairs

Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt was appointed as a new Foreign Minister following the resignation of Boris Johnson. In his first speech as the Foreign Minister, Mr. Hunt said he would fully support Teresa May to reach an agreement with the European Union after the cabinet meeting on the 6th of July in Chequers.

For last six years Jeremy Hunt has been a Secretary of Health and under his leadership NHS has received £ 20 billion increase in funding. During  2016 referendum Mr. Hunt was supporting “Remain” campaign but with time he has changed his views and became a supporter of Brexit.


 

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