News

Feb 20, 2023 - Priority Visa Services for overseas family visa applications

From 20 February 2023 UK Visa and Immigration Service is re-introducing Priority Visa services for customers with a new overseas family visa application. Priority Visa applications will be assessed within 30 days/6 weeks from the date of biometric submission.

The fee for this service is the usual fee of £573.

As regards the practical application of this service, most practitioners state thar the system works slightly different this time though, in a way that you have to submit it as a normal application, they then email you within 1-2 weeks of the biometric appointment and then you are asked i...

Feb 17, 2023 - The risk of visa applications being treated as withdrawn due to travel

This article looks at when you are and are not able to travel, and how important your location is to your application.

Location at the time of submission: does it really matter anymore?

Back when UK Visa and Immigration (UKVI) applications were made by post or in-person at a Public Enquiry Office, an applicant was required to physically hand over their passport. The issues around international travel were largely resolved due to the impracticality of getting the passport back. Now, with applicants retaining passports and the digitalisation of some application processes, the issue of where an a...

Feb 14, 2023 - Differential treatment of Ukrainian and Afghan applications justified on national security grounds

In AB v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors [2023] EWHC 287 (Admin), the High Court found that the Home Office did not discriminate against Afghan nationals, compared to Ukrainian nationals, in the context of the biometrics requirement for entry clearance applications.

The facts

AB worked as a prosecutor in Afghanistan, under the International Security Assistance Force, until the Taliban took over in summer 2021. In her role, she was involved in anti-terrorism prosecutions, including of Taliban members. Following the Taliban’s takeover and she was forced to leave Afghanistan and h...

Feb 13, 2023 - Deception and denaturalisation

There are two types of fraud-based denaturalisation in the United Kingdom.

The statutory power to deprive a British citizen of their status on the basis of fraud was introduced in 1914. It is unknown how frequently this statutory power was exercised in previous years but it is thought to be seldom.

A further form of fraud-based denaturalisation emerged through case law. In the 1978 case of Sultan Mahmood [1981] QB 58, a man had adopted the identity of his dead cousin and later purported to register as a British citizen in that identity. The court held that the purported registration was a null...

Feb 10, 2023 - New reported decision on fairness of hearings and durable partners who subsequently marry

As was established by the Upper Tribunal in the case of Elais (fairness and extended family members) [2022] UKUT 00300, the following legal points were adopted by court:

On the court hearings fairness issue:

1. In order to conduct a fair hearing, cross-examination should be facilitated by the judge without undue interruption.

2. Where a transcript or recording is available of a hearing at which it is alleged that the proceedings were unfair, it is less likely to be appropriate to seek an account from the judge as to what took place.

On the extended family member issue under the European immigr...

Feb 06, 2023 - The unintended consequences of denaturalising bad guys

The power to denaturalise a British subject on the basis of their behaviour was first introduced by legislation in 1918. With some adjustments, the power remained broadly the same until as late as 2002. Essentially, only a person who had naturalised as British could be stripped of their citizenship and the main grounds for doing so involved disloyalty or disaffection to the Crown, assisting an enemy or proven criminal conduct. These powers were exercised against some German and allied nationals who had naturalised as British but fell into abeyance. The last denaturalisation under this legal re...

Feb 03, 2023 - Kyiv visa application centre open again

The TLScontact Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Kyiv re-opened on 30 January 2023 for all applications for UK visas that need to submit their biometrics and passports before travelling to the UK.

The VAC will only be open for limited numbers of appointments per day, and may need to close at short notice for security reasons or because of unscheduled power cuts.

You will be able to keep your passport with you after submitting your biometrics.

Please note that if your application is successful, you will need to travel to Warsaw, Poland, to collect your visa to enter the UK. You will not be ab...





Feb 02, 2023 - Bank of England Interest Rate raised to 4%

The Bank of England has lifted UK interest rates to 4%, the highest level in over 14 years, as it continues to battle inflation.

The increase from 3.5%, which was broadly expected by economists, puts more pressures on mortgage payers and businesses struggling to pay off their loans.

This is the 10th meeting in a row at which the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted to raise UK borrowing costs. UK rates are now at the highest level since October 2008, when the Bank had only just started cutting rates in response to the financial crisis.

Feb 02, 2023 - UK immigration policies breach human rights standards

In its 2023 World Report, Human Rights Watch found that the recent immigration and asylum policies introduced by the UK government breach domestic human rights obligations and undermine international human rights standards.

The report focuses on the Rwanda agreement and the Nationality and Border Act. But it does not forget other legislation adopted last year, such as the judicial review bill past in April 2022 which limits the right, amongst other things, to judicially review immigration tribunal decisions. It also highlights that, unlike most European countries, the UK has not legislated a s...

Feb 01, 2023 - Immigration officers don’t have to corroborate your story

Procedural fairness does not require the Secretary of State to take steps to corroborate a person’s account before cancelling their leave for breach of conditions. So held the High Court in R (on the application of Pereira Campos) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3299 (Admin).

The facts

Mr Pereira Campos entered the UK as a visitor in November 2021, telling immigration officers that he planned to visit friends for 10 days. In February 2022 an enforcement visit to a residential address uncovered that he was working in the UK.

He was interviewed in his bedroom, where immi...

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