News

07.06.2018 - Deportation of alleged spies straight from the UK border

The British government have introduced new bill to the Parliament that would allow the expulsion of people arriving in the country at the border control if officers suspect that they are preparing for "hostile actions" in the UK. In fact, the new law would allow deportation of alleged spies straight from the UK border. The new bill was introduced by the Home Office Secretary Sajid Javid in order to fight against terrorism and "hostile actions". It is said that one of the reasons of introducing this law is poisoning of Julia and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

The bill suggests that UK Border Cont...

06.06.2018 - The government faces a possible challenge in High Court to its “Right to Rent” policy

The government faces a possible challenge in High Court to its “Right to Rent” policy, which requires landlords to carry out immigration status checks. On Wednesday, 6th June 2018, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants won the permission to bring a Judicial Review claim against the Home Office’s “Right to Rent” scheme. The bases of the claim was that the Home Office policy causes indirect racial discrimination and breaches the European Convention on Human Rights. The questions about the controversial “Right to Rent” policy were raised in the light of Windrush scandal. People of this ...

05.06.2018 - A Colombian national, convicted of a series of criminal offences, won a deportation appeal

A Colombian national, who was convicted of a series of criminal offences, won a deportation appeal (case EWCA Civ 1104).

Mr Garzon moved to the UK in 1978 when he was 11 years old. He was convicted of a series of criminal offences between 1987 and 2010. His longest sentence was  45 month imprisonment for Grievous Bodily Harm with intent to cause harm. In 2010, the Secretary of State issued Mr Garzon with a deportation order, which he appealed to Immigration Asylum Chambers. Mr Garzon’s grounds of appeal was based on the fact that he has completed his rehabilitation after the conviction in 2010...

30.05.2018 - Home Office fee has been waived for Afghan interpreters

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has confirmed that Afghan interpreters, who worked with British troops fighting the Taliban, will be able to stay in the UK for free. More than 150 interpreters who served in Helmand Province were given five-year residency permits as a part of Relocation Scheme in the UK in 2012. In order to apply for ILR they were required to pay £2,389 Home Office fees. Afghan interpreters wrote a letter of complained about “shameful immigration rules” addressed to Sajid Javid and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamso. Sajid Javid decided to waive this fees to make the process fair for...

26.05.2018 - Posting photos under GDPR

On 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (known as the GDPR) came into force in the territory of the United Kingdom, as well as in all other countries in the European Union.  This law applies to everyone who owns or processes personal information (known as data) about other people, for example, business enterprises, public organizations, individual entrepreneurs etc.

One of the points the new law refers to is the publication of images of third parties. For example, if a photo shows the faces of passers-by and the photographer publishes them on social media networks, he could be p...

20.05.2018 - “Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK”

A report published on 21st of May 2018, by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee “Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the UK” accused the UK of failing to stand up against the Kremlin after poisoning of ex-Russian spy Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March this year. The report says that despite strong rhetoric over recent actions of Russian government, Russian businessmen are still able to continue “business as usual” in the UK by “hiding and laundering their corrupt assets in London”.

MPs warned that the UK government is putting national security at risk allowing the corru...

17.05.2018 - Immigration checks on UK bank accounts have been suspended

Newly elected Home Secretary Sajid Javid has suspended controversial immigration checks on UK bank accounts in the light of the Windrush scandal. In January 2018, under the Immigration Act 2016, Theresa May gave power to the UK banks to conduct quarterly checks of the identity of every account holder against Home Office database in order to create “hostile environment” for illegal immigrants. The data of the suspicious accounts were shared with the Home Office for review.  The Home Office was able to instruct bank to take further actions including closing the accounts if in doubt. Home Office ...

15.05.2018 - More than 1600 IT workers and engineers denied UK visas

More than 1,600 visa applications for IT specialists and engineers who were offered jobs in the UK were refused between December 2017 and March 2018. The statistics shows that in December, January and February the refusal rate was 50% with this figure growing in March 2018. The reason for such high rate of refusal was because the number of people applying for Tier 2 visa exceeded the limit, which is 20 700 visas per year with a monthly limit of 1 600. The cause of such an increase in the number of the applications made under Tier 2 is unclear. It could be linked to the fact that many EU citize...

13.05.2018 - Norwegian government has proposed the UK to join EEA

The Norwegian government has proposed the UK to join the European Economic Area and adopt so called “Norway option”. Thus, the UK will stay inside the single market but outside the European Union.  Norway is one of the UK’s biggest trading partners mostly in gas sales. Mrs May believes that the main problem with the UK joining the EEA is that the long-term agreement on the free movement of EU citizens is "politically unacceptable" for Britain. Also, being the part of a single market means that the UK must comply with the laws and regulations of Brussels, in line with all the other members of t...

09.05.2018 - New EEA(PR) form and kind reminder of latest SET (O) and SET(M)

Home Office published new application form for Permanent Residence for European citizens (EEA(PR).  This form is to be used for all applications made on or after 10th of May.  It is not shorter than previous version, but the fee is still the same £65.

Also, the Home Office sent out kind reminder to use the most recent versions of SET(M) – partner or parent of a child, present and settled in the UK and SET (O) – ILR – other categories (Tier 1, 2, representatives of overseas business, dependants). Please note that both types of application include new, higher fees, as updated in April this year....

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