News
18.02.2022 - Temporary visa concessions have been introduced for family members of British nationals who usually live in Ukraine
As per the temporary concession, recently introduced by the British government due to the current escalation situation in Ukraine, you can apply for a family migration visa for free, which will be valid for six months and subject to further prolongation inside the country if escalation in Ukraine does goes further, if you are the family member of a British national, who himself usually resides in Ukraine.
Your British national family member must be one of the following:
- a spouse or civil partner
- an unmarried partner (you must have been living together in a relationship for at least 2 ...
17.02.2022 - Tier 1 Investor visa closed to new applicants “with immediate effect” – announced by Home Office
The Tier 1 Investor visa route has been closed to all new applicants with “immediate effect”, the Home Office announced today, citing “security concerns” and “wider corruption”. This follows multiple media reports yesterday that closure was imminent, although an announcement had not been expected until next week.
The route has long been controversial in terms of dirty money concerns generally and its use by Russian citizens specifically. Around half of all Investor visas ever issued are reportedly under review.
Russian citizens used to account for up to one third of Investor applicants, but th...
31.01.2022 - ILR can be cancelled while holder is outside the UK
The Home Secretary does have the legal power to cancel someone’s indefinite leave to remain after all, the Court of Appeal has held.
The decision in R (C1) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Rev1) [2022] EWCA Civ 30 reverses the tentative conclusion of Mr Justice Jay last year.
There is very little information about the anonymous appellant; the case seems to be national security related.
As per the case details, C1 had indefinite leave to remain in the UK. He left the country in 2018 and went to Iran. While he was abroad, the Home Secretary personally ordered his ILR to be cancell...
27.01.2022 - Stripping people of British citizenship without telling them is definitely illegal
The UK government’s attempt to strip a British-Pakistani woman of her citizenship without telling her was unlawful, a Court of Appeal has confirmed.
The case is R (D4) (Notice of Deprivation of Citizenship) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 33.
The woman known only as “D4” was born in the UK in 1967 and has always been a British as well as a Pakistani citizen. She is “assessed to have travelled to Syria to align with the proscribed terrorist organisation Islamic State” and has been detained at Camp Roj for the last three years.
On 27 December 2019, the government mad...
26.01.2022 - Marriages of convenience
It is always difficult to navigate between the different definitions of “sham marriage” and “marriage of convenience”.
The Upper Tribunal has now returned to this topic in the recent decision of Saeed (Deception – knowledge – marriage of convenience) [2022] UKUT 18 (IAC).
The facts
Mr Saeed, a Pakistani citizen, entered the UK as a student in 2008. He held leave until 2014, when the Home Office made a decision to remove him under section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 because of an allegedly fraudulent English language test certificate. He challenged that decision by way of judicia...
25.01.2022 - Social care workers can get Skilled Worker visas from 15 February 2022
Employers (but not private households) will be able to sponsor care assistants, home carers, nursing home support workers and similar so long as they pay at least £20,480 and £10.10 an hour. They must also include a criminal record certificate.
By way of background: lots of the people who do the vital, unglamorous day-to-day work of looking after elderly and disabled people are from abroad. Pre-pandemic, 16% of the adult social care workforce were foreign nationals, while almost 40% of care home nurses trained abroad.
Medical professionals and senior care workers already qualify for what is br...
24.01.2022 - British citizenship can be taken away if criminal offending not disclosed
The Upper Tribunal has affirmed the continuing obligation to disclose material facts in applications for naturalisation as a British citizen, including facts which arise after submitting the application. The case is Walile (deprivation: self-incrimination: anonymity) [2022] UKUT 17 (IAC).
Offence committed while citizenship application pending
The facts in this case were particularly unpleasant. Mr Walile applied for naturalisation in January 2010. In March 2010, he raped a child. Shortly afterwards, he left the UK, returning on 3 May. He was issued a certificate of naturalisation the followin...
20.01.2022 - Changes to right to work checks from 6 April 2022
Employers who want to avoid the possibility of a fine for hiring an unauthorised migrant are well advised to carry out right to work checks.
Such checks are not mandatory, but where companies do carry them out, the Home Office advises that “all potential employees, including British citizens” be checked to avoid discrimination. As a result, inspections of passports or other ID is built into the hiring processes of firms across the land.
At present, there are three possible ways of carrying out these checks:
- Online right to work checks, where the employer looks the person up in a Home Off...
11.01.2022 - EU citizens fighting deportation keep full residence rights
The Home Office has conceded that EU citizens being lined up for deportation retain full residence rights in the meantime. This is so long as they have applied to stay in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme and are protected by the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
The case involved a 19-year-old Portuguese citizen who has lived in the UK all his life but received a four-year prison sentence in 2018. He applied to the Settlement Scheme before the 30 June 2021 deadline and was refused; an appeal is pending.
The Home Office initially said that, if released on licence, he would be unable to work or ...
06.01.2022 - Tax self-assessment: HMRC waives fines again for late filings
Fines will be waived for anyone who submits their self-assessment tax return up to a month after the normal deadline of 31 January.
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) said fines would not be enforced for anyone who files by 28 February.
The move has been met with surprise. Typically, not meeting the deadline results in an automatic £100 penalty.
HMRC said Covid had put added pressure on individuals and tax advisers to complete online submissions.
The tax agency said 6.5 million customers had already filed their tax returns for the 2020-21 financial year, just over half of the 12.2 million required ...
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- 116
- 117
- 118
- 119
- 120
- 121
