New “Calais” Leave to settle in the UK

After the clearance of Calais camp in France in 2016, the British government decided to move 769 children to its territory in order to protect them from higher risk of violence, abuse and human trafficking. 549 children were reunited with their relatives who already lived in the UK. Nevertheless, some of them did not fall under current Immigration Regulations, and government decided to introduce a new visa category, created specifically for the children of the Calais refugee camp. Such visa will allow the applicant to work, study, have access to public funds and healthcare system and qualify to apply for ILR after 10 years of residency in the country. These visas will be only available to applicants who meet the following requirements:

- applicants must have been less than 18 years old at the time they moved to the UK,

- they have family ties in the UK and

- they must have been brought to the UK from the camp in Calais during the clearance between October 2016 to July 2017.

The government plans to launch this category in autumn 2018.