Immigration News Weekly Roundup – 2 February 2024
This has been an eventful week, key dates have been announced by the Home Office for all major immigration reforms. To see a full timeline of these changes, visit our blog post on Key Dates to Home Office Reforms 2024.
These changes aim to reduce net migration and address exploitation but will significantly impact applicants.
The Office for National Statistics released figures projecting the UK population could reach 74 million by 2036, fuelled by net migration. This suggests the population may hit 70 million by mid-2026, a decade earlier than previous estimates. The data highlights migration’s role in population growth, likely influencing the government’s reform agenda.
In response, new restrictions limiting migration take effect from March. The measures are expected to exclude 300,000 people who came to the UK last year by raising income thresholds and tightening eligibility. For example, the minimum income for spouse/partner visas rises initially to £29,000 in April 2024, then around £34,500 later in 2024, reaching £38,700 in early 2025.
The Rwanda deportation policy continues facing opposition, even from Conservative peers. The House of Lords advanced the Safety of Rwanda Bill this week, but Ken Clarke and other Tory figures joined the Archbishop of Canterbury opposing the policy. Expect continued debate as the Bill proceeds.
In an apparent error, some asylum seekers received letters saying they faced removal to Rwanda. The Home Office admitted mistakenly sending the notices, leaving recipients distraught. Labour accused the government of disarray amid its efforts to implement deportations.
A High Court judgment offers useful guidance on sponsor licence revocation. It ruled the Home Office failed to properly consider proportionality when revoking a care home’s licence for limited non-compliance regarding one worker’s job duties. The decision confirms sponsors’ right to discretion despite policy guidance.
The businesses and individuals will have a direct impact because of the on-going reforms throughout 2024.
Migrant families seeking to reunite in the UK face major new financial barriers under the government’s immigration policy changes. The planned 66% increase to the Immigration Health Surcharge, on top of higher minimum income thresholds for spousal visas, will make family visa applications prohibitively expensive for many. With costs spiralling upwards, low- and middle-income families trying to bring partners and children to the UK will be hardest hit. The reforms risk preventing family reunification for those unable to meet the mounting financial requirements, undermining efforts towards a fair and equitable immigration system.
Do seize the opportunity to attend HJT’s live online course: Appendix FM Pathways for Partners and Settlement with Expert Brendan Beder to address the upcoming changes to the Rules. More info or to book, click here.
As the business face an increased salary threshold for Skilled worker visas and the risk of maximum civil penalty rising up to £60,000 it will be more important than ever to safeguard their sponsor licences at all costs.
Join our expert Sacha Woolridge for Sponsor Licence Masterclass. The intensive live online training session will take the delegates through the most updated procedures and regimes for scoring their Sponsor Licence successfully from the Home Office, in addition to also managing audits for right to work checks and managing revocation and suspension threats and decisions. For booking, click here
For a full list of course scheduled for this year, visit our course archive here.
For enquiries, contact us enquiries@hjt-training.co.uk or call 075441 64692.
For the full list of updates on media news, reported case law and Home Office Policy and other document updates, read below.
IMMIGRATION NEWS
Home Secretary underlines commitment to cut net migration – UKVI
Rollout of new transformative legal migration measures begins, with new restrictions set to relieve the burden on British taxpayers and public services.
It comes after the Prime Minister and Home Secretary set out a major new package of reforms in December, delivering the biggest ever reduction in net migration and tackling exploitation across the immigration system.
The robust changes, which will curb abuse of the migration system, and ensure those choosing to make the UK their home can afford to do so, will begin to come into effect as early as March and will mean 300,000 people who came to the UK last year would now not be able to come.
For full report, click here
Net migration to push UK population to 74m by 2036, ONS projects – BBC News
The UK population could reach nearly 74 million by 2036 with net migration fuelling the rise, figures suggest.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) projects the population will increase by 6.6 million people (9.9%) between 2021 and 2036. This includes a net migration of 6.1 million people and about 500,000 more births than deaths.
The figures say there could be an additional one million people aged 85 and over in the UK by 2036. The projected population growth to about 73.7 million, from the latest estimate of 67 million, is faster than the previous calculation and comes after net migration to the UK hit a record 745,000 in 2022.
The figures suggest the UK population could hit 70 million by the middle of 2026 – a decade sooner than projections published in 2022.
For full report, click here
Pizza boss banned for hiring two illegal workers – BBC News
A pizzeria owner from Cumbria who hired two illegal workers has been banned from being a company director for six years.
Dondu Ozmicco, 35, employed the workers at Flames Pizzeria in Ulverston, without doing right-to-work checks. Immigration Enforcement fined the business £20,000 after they raided the premises in 2020. The business went into liquidation in March 2022.
Kevin Read, chief investigator at the Insolvency Service, said: “Dondu Ozmicco’s failure to ensure the required right-to-work checks were carried out led to the employment of two illegal workers, in contravention of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.
For full report, click here.
More than 30,000 UK asylum seekers on bail under Rwanda deportation threat- The Guardian
Home Office reveals 33,085 will not have claims examined while government tries to remove them.
More than 30,000 asylum seekers are on bail and under the threat of deportation from the UK to Rwanda, the Home Office has disclosed, as James Cleverly insisted that the total backlog of 94,000 cases should instead be referred to as a queue.
A senior official has admitted for the first time that 33,085 people who arrived in the UK by irregular means such as small boats will not have their asylum claims examined while the government attempts to remove them from the UK.
For full report, click here
Sunak’s Rwanda plan faces more hurdles as Tory peers condemn policy – The Guardian
Rishi Sunak’s troubled Rwanda deportation plan has been condemned by Conservative peers, historians, and bishops in an indication that the House of Lords could demand changes that might delay its implementation.
Ken Clarke, the Conservative former chancellor, and former lord chancellor joined the archbishop of Canterbury and the historian Peter Hennessy on Monday evening in opposing the government’s plan to overturn a ruling by the UK’s highest court and send asylum seekers to the central African country.
They were among more than 60 members of the Lords listed to speak during the second reading debate of the government’s safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) bill.
For full report, click here
UK and France’s small boats pact and doubling in drownings ‘directly linked’ – The Guardian
The most recent illegal migration pact between the UK and France is “directly linked” to a doubling of the number of Channel drownings in the last year, a report has found.
The increased police presence on French beaches – along with more dinghies being stopped from reaching the coast – is leading to more dangerous overcrowding and chaotic attempts to board the boats, the paper said.
The lives lost in 2023 – when the deal was signed – were close to the French shore and to police patrols on the beaches, in contrast to earlier Channel drownings such as the mass drowning on 24 November 2021, where at least 27 people lost their lives after their boat got into difficulty in the middle of the Channel.
For full report, click here
Theresa May to confront Home Office over ‘appalling’ secret policy on trafficking victims – The Guardian
Theresa May is to confront the Home Office after it was found to have kept an “appalling” asylum policy secret, amid internal fears that its approach would be attacked by the former prime minister and other senior politicians.
In an extraordinary finding, the high court concluded last week that the Home Office had operated a secret policy that affected the asylum rights of at least 1,500 people found to be genuine victims of trafficking and modern slavery.
For full report, click here
Asylum seekers ‘in despair’ after Rwanda removal letters sent in error – The Guardian
Asylum seekers have been left “in despair” after receiving letters sent in error by the Home Office telling them they faced removal to Rwanda; the Guardian has learned.
Labour accused the government of being in disarray after Home Office sources admitting to sending the letters out by mistake.
Several people told the Guardian they had received the letters in recent days, with lawyers beginning work on cases. Some said they believed the Home Office was planning a Rwanda flight imminently as its controversial safety of Rwanda bill makes its way through parliament.
For full report, click here.
Are international students taking over UK universities? No – in fact, they’re propping them up. Opinion by Jonathan Portes, professor of economics and public policy at King’s College London , published by The Guardian
Since 2010, the number of international students in the UK has increased by up to 70%, while entry to the most competitive universities has become more and more difficult. Meanwhile, the tuition fees paid by domestic students have fallen by more than a quarter in real terms, but for international students they’ve spiralled ever upward: they’re usually more than double the UK level.
For full article, click here
CASE LAW
Supporting Care Ltd, R (On the Application Of v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 68 (Admin)
The High Court recently ruled in Supporting Care Ltd, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 68 (Admin), a case involving revocation of a care home operator’s sponsor licence.
The care home’s licence was revoked in June 2023 due to one compliance breach regarding a sponsored senior care worker’s job duties not fully matching her certificate of sponsorship. The care home argued that the Home Office failed to adequately consider the impact revocation would have on its business, workers, and residents. The court agreed, finding the Home Office wrongly treated the policy guidance as mandating revocation without discretion, despite the care home’s limited breach involving just one worker.
Unlike a previous similar case, the care home had raised impact concerns prior to revocation and had only one minor breach. The court ruled the Home Office should have conducted a more reasoned and proportional assessment before revoking the licence. This case highlights the need for discretion in applying sponsor licence policies when revocation could have disproportionate adverse impacts.
For full decision, click here
Maleci (non-admission of late evidence) [2024] UKUT 00028 (IAC)
The Upper tribunal has ruled that the First-tier Tribunal has the authority to give instructions about how evidence should be filed and presented in proceedings. These instructions can impose consequences like excluding evidence if the directions are not followed, as long as the Tribunal deems this to be a fair outcome.
Parties in the proceedings need to understand that if they fail to comply with the Tribunal’s directions, they risk having any evidence that was not submitted per the instructions refused for consideration.
What constitutes a “fair” outcome will vary based on the specifics of each individual case. However, the principles established in the 2015 Court of Appeal case SSHD v SS (Congo) and Others will inform the Tribunal’s judgement of what is fair when evidence is excluded for not following directions.
For full decision, click here
R (on the application of El-Ashkar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] JR-2022-LON-002069
In his ruling, Steyn J addressed the Secretary of State’s request to revoke commitments made to the Upper Tribunal that the Secretary of State has violated. The judgment also examines other issues resulting from the Secretary of State’s severely flawed handling of these proceedings.
The Secretary of State acknowledged the long list of compounding errors, for which there is no excuse given their seriousness. Steyn J found the management of this case by the Secretary of State was shockingly deficient. This has negatively impacted the Applicant.
Consequently, the Tribunal must now consider whether to initiate contempt proceedings against the Secretary of State for breaching sworn commitments to the Tribunal in a sealed order.
For full decision, click here
TMX, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough of Croydon & Anor [2024] EWHC 129 (Admin)
The High Court clarifies that local authorities have a duty under the Care Act 2014 to provide suitable accommodation for asylum seekers with care needs. Deputy Judge Bates stated:
“[A] local authority cannot properly rely on the Secretary of State providing accommodation for a person pursuant to the s.95 [of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999] ‘residual safety net’ as its basis for finding that that person does not have accommodation-related needs under the Care Act. As this case illustrates (involving, as it does, a severely disabled person whose very real need for suitable accommodation has remained unmet for many months), it is essential that there be clarity as to which public authority is legally responsible for providing suitable accommodation for such a person.”
For full decision, click here
INDEPDENENT REPORTS
Research Briefing: Changes to legal migration rules for family and work visas in 2024, House of Commons Library, UK Parliament.
The spouse/partner visa minimum income will first increase to £29,000 on 11 April 2024; to around £34,500 at an unspecified time later in 2024; and finally to around £38,700 “by early 2025”
For full report, click here
Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, Division 1: held on 29 January 2024, UK Parliament.
This week, the House of Lords carried the Government’s Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill through its second reading. The Lords rejected a motion to stop the Bill by 206 votes to 84. Labour voted with a blank ballot. The Bill now moves on to the Lords committee stage.
For full report, click here
HOME OFFICE GUIDANCE & POLICY DOCUMENT UPDATES
- Transparency data: Ukraine Visa Schemes has been updated on 1 February 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Caseworker Guidance: Permission to stay as a stateless person has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: Vietnam: country policy and information notes have been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: Register of licensed sponsors –workers has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: Register of licensed sponsors–students has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Caseworker Guidance Victims of domestic violence has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: Where to apply ECB05 has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click
- Caseworker Guidance: Assessing the English language requirements has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Caseworker Guidance: Visit visa has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here
- Caseworker Guidance: Settlement – family and private life has been updated on 31st January 2023. To view the updated Guidance, click here
- Visa fees transparency data has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated data, click here
- Policy paper on the UK visa fees has been updated on 31st January 2024. To view the updated policy, click here.
- Guidance Botswana: tuberculosis test clinics for a UK visa has been updated on 30th January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance Chad: tuberculosis test clinics for a UK visa has been updated on 30th January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Caseworker Guidance: Permission to work has been updated 26th January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: Right to rent document checks – a user guide has been updated 25th January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: Immigration Rules archive: 28 December 23 to 15 January 2024 has been updated on 25th January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here .
- Guidance: Offshore well boat workers Immigration Rules concession 2022 has been updated on 24th January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: UKRI endorsement- endorsed funders (Global Talent visa) has been updated on 23rd January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
- Guidance: UKRI endorsement: employing or hosting institutions (Global Talent visa) has been updated on 23rd January 2024. To view the updated Guidance, click here.
STAY TUNED FOR MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS NEXT WEEK!
