News

Oct 19, 2021 - Can an immigration decision be put on ice during a criminal investigation?

This was the question before the Court of Appeal in R (X and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1480. The court decided that the answer is “yes”, with some caveats.

Challenge to five-year delay pending fraud investigation

The case concerned a family who applied to extend their permission in the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route in April 2017. Shortly before they lodged the applications, HM Revenue and Customs launched a criminal investigation into the main applicant, Mr X. He and 12 other people were suspected of being involved in a tax fraud conspiracy.

Mr X was ar...

Oct 18, 2021 - Are children and parents able to apply to remain after seven years’ residence?

From a child’s perspective, seven years of residence in the UK can be literally a lifetime. It may be the sum of all the child’s experience and the UK may be the only home they know in any meaningful sense. On top of that, children do not make their own decisions about moving homes and countries. To put it another way, whilst adults make informed choices about where to live, children have to cope with the consequences of other people’s choices.

Paragraph 276ADE(1)(iv) of the Immigration Rules provides that a child may be granted permission to stay on the basis of their Article 8 right to a pri...

Oct 14, 2021 - Pork butchers latest to get temporary visas

800 temporary Seasonal Worker visas will be made available to pork butchers, the British government announced on 14 October.

They will last for six months, with applications open until 31 December 2021.

Up to 800 pork butchers will be eligible to apply until the end of the year for six-month visas.

Environment Secretary George Eustice stated in this regard: "A unique range of pressures on the pig sector over recent months, such as the impacts of the pandemic and its effect on export markets, have led to the temporary package of measures we are announcing. This is the result of close working wi...

Oct 11, 2021 - Visa scheme for HGV drivers and poultry workers launched

The Home Office has published a short statement of changes to the Immigration Rules. It is to implement the emergency temporary visa schemes for HGV drivers and poultry workers and therefore comes into force at 4pm today. Employers in those sectors will be able to request workers from four named recruitment agencies.

The visas will be granted under the existing Seasonal Worker route. Appendix Seasonal Worker is therefore being amended. In addition to the existing eligibility for “edible horticulture” workers, Seasonal Worker will be open to:

  • the poultry production sector
  • haulage drivi...

Oct 06, 2021 - Short-term work on a visit visa

British businesses have long relied on workers from the European Union to come in for short or medium-term projects. Before Brexit, this was frictionless from an immigration perspective. People arrived, people worked, people left and businesses were happy.

EU free movement ended (for the UK) on 31 December 2020, but the impact was largely masked by the pandemic which struck Europe weeks later. With borders and workplaces now opening back up, businesses are being confronted with post-free movement realities.

The first instinct is to turn to the Points Based Immigration System for sponsoring wor...

Oct 05, 2021 - Pandora papers could serve as a signal for business to the abandonment of offshore

Hundreds of thousands of organizations and individuals around the world allocate capital in other states, including offshore. All of this primarily happens to get advantages due to tax exemptions on a legal basis. According to the IMF, there are over 60 countries in the world that are offshore zones. There are also a dozen countries where separate regions and even cities are offshore.

The offshore world consists of dozens of zones. Some of them are very “dubious”. These are mainly island offshore – public companies and persons who value their reputation, try to stay away from such offshore as ...

Oct 04, 2021 - New immigration concession for fuel tanker drivers

Certain foreign citizens who can drive fuel tankers can enter the UK without a visa until 15 October under a new immigration concession.

The Home Office published the Concession for temporary leave to allow employment as HGV fuel drivers on Saturday 2 October. It allows entry outside the normal Immigration Rules until 15 October, with permission lasting until 31 March 2022, for people who:

  • Are not visa nationals
  • Have an EU licence to drive HGV fuel tankers
  • Have an “endorsement letter” from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
  • Will be employed as a fuel t...

Oct 01, 2021 - Immigration officials may stop people travelling from Ireland to Great Britain

Immigration officials may stop people travelling from Ireland to Great Britain and ask to see their papers despite the Common Travel Area, the Home Office has confirmed.

A newly updated version (10.0) of the Common Travel Area guidance says:

Whilst there are no routine immigration controls when travelling to Great Britain (GB) via Ireland individuals may be required to provide a document to confirm their nationality and identity if they are encountered by an official as part of an intelligence led control on arrival from Ireland into GB.

Such “intelligence led” checks have long been in place o...

Sep 30, 2021 - Furlough scheme ends today after supporting millions of workers during the pandemic and the UK Government announces £500m in new grants to help poorest households

The government's furlough scheme closes on Thursday, with uncertainty ahead for people who have not yet fully returned to work.

Nearly one million workers were expected to be on the scheme at the end of September, according to research by the Resolution Foundation.

Of those on furlough in late July, about half on the scheme were able to work some of the time, the HMRC says.

Since the start of the pandemic, it has helped pay the wages of 11.6 million workers.

But many forecasters, including the Bank of England, are expecting a small rise in unemployment as it ends.

The chancellor said he was "i...

Sep 29, 2021 - The 180-day absence rule doesn’t apply to people with a spouse or partner visa

Many UK immigration categories impose a requirement that the visa holder must not be outside the UK for more than 180 days in any 12-month period — that is, if the person wants to apply for indefinite leave to remain. 

The good news is that this rule doesn’t apply to spouse and partner visa holders.

Is there an absences limit for spouses?

In short, no. Within the Immigration Rules for spouses and partners — found in the notorious Appendix FM — you won’t find a rule that says a person holding a spouse or partner visa should not be absent from the UK for a certain number of days.

But this doesn’

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