1.1. The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) drafted the following report as a joint commentary by experienced immigration practitioners on the EU Settlement Scheme. We hope this expertise assists in the development of the scheme and to achieve its intended purpose of safeguarding the rights of EU citizens living in...
Mass confusion following the immigration minister’s evidence (full transcript here) to the Home Affairs committee yesterday: this was a terrible appearance by Caroline Nokes @CommonsHomeAffs yesterday. Sajid Javid needs to go back as a matter of urgency; give clear answers and put out the govt’s No Deal advice on citizens asap...
A new list of fees for immigration and nationality applications comes into effect from 8 October. None of the existing fees have actually changed since April; the Home Office is just adding the charges for Appendix EU “settled status” applications to the list. The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations...
The EU Settlement Scheme for registering Europeans who want to stay legally in the UK after Brexit will sign people up alphabetically, according to a news report today. “Multiple sources” have told the website Business Insider that under a confidential plan being discussed by senior officials, caseworkers would process European...
Ministers released further information today on the settled status registration scheme for EU citizens living the UK after Brexit. Many of the headline announcements cover familiar ground, but there is now a 40-page statement of intent on the EU Settlement Scheme, as well as draft Immigration Rules. Roughly 3.5 million EU nationals...
Migration policy experts have warned that the system of registering EU citizens to stay in the UK after Brexit risks excluding the most vulnerable, who will end up as unlawfully resident if they fail to register or are turned down. A briefing from the influential Migration Observatory at the University...
I’ve blogged previously about my concern for EU citizens falling through the cracks in terms of their post-Brexit residence and citizenship rights. Some of these worries are now articulated in a more formal way in two legal briefings undertaken for the Eurochildren in Brexiting Britain project at the University of Birmingham. I...
On 19 March the European Union and the UK published the impressively named Draft Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. In other words, a draft Brexit divorce agreement. This blog post will focus...
All applicants for naturalisation should normally be free of immigration time restrictions on the date that they apply for naturalisation. This generally means having indefinite leave to enter or remain or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, though the guidance elaborates on this and considers a number of less common...
The type of status granted to EU citizens under the EU Settlement Scheme depends on how long they have been living in the UK. EU citizens and their eligible family members who have been continuously resident in the UK for five years can apply for “settled status” to enable them...
A guidance change made in July 2023 is affecting the ability of the new-born babies of refugees to obtain refugee status. This is an issue that affects a limited group of people, namely those who have been granted refugee leave for five years, and have a child born in the...
A “returning resident” is a resident of the United Kingdom with settled status who returns to the country after a lengthy absence abroad. Ordinarily, when a person refers to “returning residents” they might be talking about a temporary resident who leaves for a short time, for example on holiday or...
Page contentsChildrenBoth parents settled or BritishOne of the parents is not settled or BritishParent of a childAdult dependent relativesAdult relative of a UK sponsorDependencyLong term personal care to perform everyday tasksUnable to obtain the required level of care in the country where they are livingApplicants who cannot meet the requirements...
On the face of it, refugee status and humanitarian protection seem like two sides of the same coin. Both are a form of international protection granted to a person in need. Both result in a grant of five years’ permission to remain in the UK on a pathway to settlement...
Page contentsOverview of family applicationsPartnersSuitability requirementsRelationship requirementFinancial requirementEnglish language requirementAccommodation requirementImmigration status requirementGrant of leave and settlementBereaved partnersVictims of domestic abuse Overview of family applications Family members (“applicants”) of certain people (“sponsors”) can apply to come to, or remain, in the UK on the basis of their family relationship. Such...
Digital technology plays a central role in the ongoing reform of British borders after Brexit, and the 2019 launch of the EU Settlement Scheme was a pivotal moment in this transformation. The EUSS introduced an online-by-default process to apply for immigration status and, crucially, an online-only process to evidence it....
Job title: SENIOR IMMIGRATION ADVISER (Scotland and Wales) Reporting to: Immigration Advice Manager Duration: 35 hours/5 days a week (full time) Location: Responsible for work in Scotland and Wales, working from home orembedded in local services. Salary: £33,250 p.a., initially an 18 month contract with expectation of extension. Application closing date: Midnight, Monday 15th May About...
Job title: SENIOR IMMIGRATION ADVISER (Scotland and Wales) Reporting to: Immigration Advice Manager Duration: 35 hours/5 days a week (full time) Location: Responsible for work in Scotland and Wales, working from home or embedded in local services. Salary: £33,250 p.a., initially a one-year contract with expectation of extension. About Settled...
Article 1D of the Refugee Convention excludes people from refugee protection where they are in receipt, or are eligible to receive, another form of international protection from organs or agencies of the United Nations other than UNHCR. It states: This Convention shall not apply to persons who are at present...
The regulations on student finance in England list different categories of people who are eligible for student loans. One category is people who are “settled” in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of their course. To be settled in immigration terms, you generally need to...
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme formally began yesterday. The definition of resettlement is elastic: for now, the scheme is only for people “already evacuated and in the UK”. New arrivals are not yet being accepted. Afghan resettlement minister Victoria Atkins told MPs: … we will open two further referral pathways...
Settled has vacancies for 2 immigration advisers interested in setting up new services for EU citizens in Scotland and North West England. The deadline for applications to the EU Settlement Scheme has just passed — now the real work begins! Late applications, refused applications, requests for family members to join,...
The High Court has issued a judgment refusing permission for a judicial review challenge to the government’s policy of giving digital-only proof of immigration status to millions of EU citizens. The case is R (The 3million Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 1159 (Admin). People...
Digital-only residence permits could make it harder for migrants to access vital services like jobs and housing, a new report warns. Landlords and employers used to physical passports and residence permits may discriminate against migrants whose proof of immigration status only exists online, according to the Public Law Project. Millions...
As we’re constantly being reminded, free movement will come to an end this year. From 1 January 2021, EU/EEA/Swiss citizens who wish to move to the UK to work and study will have to meet the requirements of the new points-based immigration system. Existing residents have until 30 June 2021...
Page contents3.1. Introduction3.2 Biological relationship between intended parents and child3.3 Immigration status of intended parents3.4 Parental orders3.5 Applications that do not fall within the guidance 3.1. Introduction There are two important points to bear in mind when making an application based on the Inter-country Surrogacy and the Immigration Rules guidance....
In this briefing we look at the British National (Overseas) citizenship status held by an estimated 2.9 million people in Hong Kong. Before we begin, a quick reminder that there are six different types of British nationality: British citizenship British Overseas Territories citizenship British Overseas Citizenship British Subject status British National...
Following the Conservative Party’s victory in the December 2019 general election, and the passing of the Withdrawal Agreement Act on 23 January 2020, the UK has now left the European Union with a divorce deal. Under the deal, formally called the Withdrawal Agreement, there is a transitional period running from...
Following Priti Patel’s recent comments about the immediate end of free movement following a no-deal Brexit, the Home Office sent an email reassuring EU citizens that they will continue to be eligible to remain in the UK so long as they apply for the settled status scheme. What the email...
The government’s preparations for Brexit include passing a law to remove the right of free movement for EU citizens. This right is ultimately derived from the EU treaties, but is also expressed in UK legislation, notably section 7 of the Immigration Act 1988, and in the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016...
The Supreme Court has allowed the appeal in the case of Rhuppiah v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] UKSC 58. Giving the sole judgment, Lord Wilson holds that a “precarious” immigration status is any status short of Indefinite Leave to Remain but allows the appeal on the...
The Home Office will have no idea how many EU residents are left undocumented by Brexit because it does not collect or release the necessary data, a leading immigration policy expert has warned. Madeleine Sumption said yesterday that the government has no plans to find out how many of the...
The Home Office has confirmed that Irish citizens living in the UK are considered “settled” for the purposes of immigration law. The department said that officials in individual cases who had denied that Irish citizens were settled as soon as they took up residence in the UK were wrong to...
Family members (“applicants”) of certain people (“sponsors”) can apply to come to, or remain, in the UK on the basis of their family relationship. Such family members include partners, parents, children and adult dependant relatives. The people who are able to sponsor them are British citizens, people with indefinite leave...
On 14 February 2018 the Home Affairs committee of MPs published a rather critical report on the Home Office delivery of Brexit, which Nick promptly summarised in a post at the time. The government’s response to the report was published on 25 May. A lot of it is not news, but rather a...
Several cases have come to light in recent weeks and months of the treatment of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Unable to provide evidence of their right to reside in the UK, these legal immigrants are losing jobs, being detained, and being denied...
New research shows that the immigration insecurity of one family member now affects whole families, including children and citizens who are not themselves subject to immigration control, writes Dr Melanie Griffiths of the University of Bristol. This week, the University of Bristol published three policy briefings arising from new research examining...
Particularly relevant to Syrians who were not granted formal refugee status and instead got the lesser status of Humanitarian Protection: This form is for people resettled under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme or the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme who wish to request their status in the UK is changed from...
