All Articles: Tier 4
Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 707 – “new Points-Based Immigration System” rules for students
Is a statement of changes even a statement of changes nowadays if it doesn’t introduce a new appendix to the Immigration Rules? On 10 September 2020, the government laid the first statement of changes of its infamous “new Point-Based Immigration S ...
11th September 2020Government provides (not much) further detail on the UK’s new points-based immigration system
Immigration lawyers up and down the land leapt out of bed this Monday morning, eager to glut out on the promised detail of the UK’s new points-based immigration system. How disappointed we all are. The snappily titled UK’s Points-Based Imm ...
13th July 2020Comment: universities, schools and colleges urgently need international student guidance
On 19 May 2020, a number of media outlets reported that there will be no face-to-face lectures at Cambridge University until summer 2021. The university issued a statement the next day in which it said there had been “partial reporting of only o ...
21st May 2020University strikes: what do they mean for international students and staff?
Today sees the start of industrial action, including strikes, across 60 universities. Members of the University and Colleges Union are striking over pensions, pay and conditions for the next eight days, with other forms of action planned when they ret ...
25th November 2019Plague of incorrect Biometric Residence Permits causes havoc across education sector
September and October are important and busy enrolment periods for Tier 4 student visa sponsors. Immigration compliance teams had enough to contend with this academic year with the introduction of passport eGates, which means having to find evidence o ...
16th October 2019Return of two-year post study work visa announced
The two-year post study work visa has returned from the dead, apparently. Multiple statements, from the Prime Minister, the Business Secretary, the Department for Education and, last and least, the Home Office have been released announcing the resurre ...
11th September 2019No deal planning: Home Office forgets about Scotland
Depending on which pundit you speak to, a no-deal Brexit has either got more likely or less likely over the last couple of weeks. It remains the default if the UK-EU withdrawal agreement is not passed at the third time of asking, and a further extensi ...
26th March 2019Home Office changes tack on “professional sportsperson” definition – but is it enough?
The Home Office amended its definition of a ‘professional sportsperson’ back in January 2019. At the time, I set out why I thought the changes were significant: Why coaching your kid’s football team could breach your visa conditions. Sin ...
19th March 2019Only private schools in the UK to be able to sponsor EU children from 2021
The government recently published information about arrangements for EU citizens who move to the UK after the UK leaves the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The proposals would mean that EU (and EEA) national children who move to the UK between th ...
5th February 2019Migration Advisory Committee recommends “tweaks” to Tier 4 student visa rules
Immigration lawyers helping sponsoring universities navigate the complexities of the Points Based System naturally have an economic interest in overseas students — but then so does the rest of the nation. That is the uncompromising conclusion of ...
11th September 2018No duty of fairness to student left in the lurch by college
Last week the Court of Appeal dealt with the issue of fairness and discretion in the context of the Points Based System. Specifically, it decided that such values take a firm second place to predictability. The case is R (Dharmeshkumar Bhupendrabhai P ...
27th February 2018Sponsor guidance protects college from unlawful Home Office sanctions
In the High Court last month, Mrs Justice Moulder found that the Home Office had gathered partly unreliable intelligence in the course of an investigation into a college, breaching its right to peaceful enjoyment of its Tier 4 sponsor licence under Ar ...
31st January 2018Court of Appeal: visa conditions do not count unless notified in writing
Today’s decision in Anwar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 2134 confirms that if the Home Office wishes to impose visa conditions, it must give people written notice of those conditions. If the Home Office fails to d ...
15th December 2017Home Office ‘abuse of power’ over English Language Testing student
The President of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has found that the Home Office abused its power in forcing a college to expel a student and deliberately depriving him of a statutory right of appeal. The case has now been r ...
11th January 2017Court of Appeal has finally had it with the Points Based System
The Points Based System is notoriously complex and indecipherable. Initially I believe this was simply incompetence on the part of Home Office officials unable to communicate in plain English and ill equipped to design to and then adapt to the constan ...
8th December 2016Court of Appeal unhappy with Home Office position and submissions in student case
“Technical”, “deeply unattractive”, “disingenuous”, “singularly lacks merit”, “ridiculous”, “inappropriate”, “extraordinary”. All words used by Elias or Vos LLJ to des ...
16th May 2016*UPDATED* Tribunal rejects Home Office fraud allegation in ETS case but fails to report determination
President McCloskey has firmly rejected the Home Office case against students alleged to have fraudulently obtained English language test certificate from ETS (“Educational Testing Services Ltd”) in the case of SM and Ihsan Qadir v Secr ...
13th May 2016Inspection report finds chaotic Home Office practices in student cases
A recent report by the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, revealed that the management of curtailment decisions in Tier 4 cases is inconsistent and the Home Office is unable to deal with the thousands of curtailment cases and ...
29th March 2016Court of Appeal dismisses ETS challenges
Back in the day, One Direction enjoyed considerable success and dominated the reported charts. Without a picture in the attic, though, good fortune and good looks cannot last forever. Decline is inevitable. It can be embraced with dignity but this elu ...
29th September 2015Good news and bad for challenges to ETS fraud decisions
The Upper Tribunal has given judgment in a test case on ETS appeals and judicial reviews: R (on the application of Gazi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (ETS – judicial review) IJR [2015] UKUT 327 (IAC). It is essential reading for anyo ...
18th June 2015Genuine students and ECO interviews
Having just finished drafting grounds for judicial review in a case involving a refusal of a Tier 4 study application on the grounds that the applicant was not a “genuine student” I was interested to see the new case of R (Mushtaq) v Entr ...
17th May 2015Educational Testing Service officially dropped from Immigration Rules
A new Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 198) corrects an earlier botched attempt to change the rules by fiat and remove discredited Educational Testing Services (ETS) as providers of the English language test needed for many modern im ...
10th June 2014When is a rule not a rule? Students and veracity checks
This post has been contributed by, Vijay Jagadesham, who represented the College in Global Vision College Ltd v SSHD[2014] EWCA Civ 659. Readers would be forgiven for thinking that this question was clearly answered by the Supreme Court in the case ...
6th June 2014Lord Justice Jackson in Pokhriyal [2013] EWCA Civ 1568
The rules governing the PBS are set out in the Immigration Rules and the appendices to those rules. These provisions have now achieved a degree of complexity which even the Byzantine Emperors would have envied. Source ...
5th December 2013New Statement of Changes to Immigration Rules CM 8690
Comes into force today. Clarifies that Tier 4 students on post graduate courses of 12 months or longer can sponsor family member dependants. TB screening introduced for those entering from Mauritania for over 6 months and TB screening only required ...
1st August 2013