News Update – 25 September 2026
It has been a busy week in UK immigration, with the Immigration and Asylum Bill moving into committee stage and confirmation that the earned settlement policy is expected later this year. Alongside new case law and Home Office guidance, this week’s roundup covers the key immigration developments, and the October changes advisers should have on their radar.
Earned Settlement policy to be set out later this year
Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Committee this week, Shabana Mahmood said decisions on the proposed earned settlement model will be made shortly. The new policy is expected to be set out later this year. Under the proposals, the standard qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain would double from five to ten years. Settlement would also depend on meeting a new set of contribution-based requirements.
The Home Secretary acknowledged that a large group of migrants who arrived in 2022 would ordinarily become eligible to settle from February 2027. She confirmed that applications will continue to be decided under the rules in force on the date of application, not the date of arrival. She also said the policy would be announced well before that cohort starts to qualify.
On transitional protection, she said the options range from exempting certain groups entirely, so they could still settle after five years, to phased arrangements for others. She declined to give a firm date, explaining that a larger-than-expected consultation response had slowed the analysis.
MPs pressed her on the anxiety this uncertainty is causing families who have reached, or are approaching, five years in the UK. For advisers, the practical message is to check clients’ likely qualifying dates now and be ready to act promptly once the policy and any transitional arrangements are published.
Channel crossings: an undetected landing and a western route
A small boat reached Folkestone this week without being intercepted at sea. Kent Police detained the five people on board and passed them to Border Security Command. It was the first recorded unescorted landing on the UK coast since September 2025.
The Home Office described the incident as isolated and confirmed an investigation is under way. Defence minister Luke Pollard rejected suggestions that the government had lost control of the border, arguing that falling crossings and the closure of asylum hotels showed its approach was working.
Attention also turned to the south coast. A dinghy that had left Vierville-sur-Mer in Normandy, well west of the usual departure beaches, spent more than 33 hours at sea before rescue crews reached off Hampshire. Its passengers had declined help from French rescuers, and the boat was eventually brought into Dover rather than landing in the Solent.
The episode prompted an overnight protest in Gosport, where six people were arrested and three charged. Hampshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, said the county was not equipped to handle such arrivals. She called for passengers to be transferred at sea and taken directly to Dover.
This was the second western crossing this month, following the arrival of a large group at Portsmouth on 6 September. Officials had described that earlier arrival as a one-off.
Overall numbers continue to fall. Some 17,480 people had crossed the Channel in small boats by 20 September, around 46% fewer than at the same point in 2025.
UK–France returns deal approaches its deadline
The “one in, one out” returns arrangement with France expires on 1 October 2026. It will lapse unless both governments agree in writing to extend it.
Reports earlier this month suggested that Paris was reluctant to renew the scheme in its current form and would prefer a wider UK–EU framework. Around 1,400 people have been returned to France so far, roughly 4% of small boat arrivals since the scheme began.
Advisers acting for recent small boat arrivals should watch the outcome closely. Whether the scheme lapses, is extended or is replaced will affect how new arrivals are handled from October.
Immigration and Asylum Bill enters committee stage
The Immigration and Asylum Bill, introduced on 30 June 2026, is now at Commons committee stage. The Public Bill Committee heard oral evidence last week, will begin line-by-line scrutiny on 13 October, and is expected to report by 3 November.
The Bill is wide-ranging. It would replace the First-tier Tribunal’s immigration role with a new Independent Immigration Appeals Authority, tighten how courts apply Article 8, replace refugee status and humanitarian protection with a single “core protection” model, and allow the Home Office to recover asylum support costs from people who are later able to pay.
Clause 36 has drawn criticism. It would require decisionmakers to treat delayed disclosure, inconsistencies and striking similarities between accounts as damaging to a trafficking survivor’s credibility. The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner told the committee the clause should be removed entirely, and the Helen Bamber Foundation published a briefing on why survivors often cannot disclose straight away.
The Government has also said it intends to amend the Bill to remove the long-standing deportation exemption for certain Commonwealth and Irish citizens in section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971. Practitioners with long-resident Commonwealth or Irish clients should watch for the wording of that amendment.
Lords committee questions the Home Secretary’s rule-making powers
The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has raised concerns about the Home Secretary’s power under section 3(1)(b) of the Immigration Act 1971. The power allows concessions affecting how the Immigration Rules apply, without parliamentary approval or formal notice.
The inquiry was prompted by a drafting error in the March 2026 statement of changes (HC 1691), which accidentally deleted the transit without visa provisions. The Home Office used the concession power to fill the gap without telling Parliament. When asked how often the power had been used, it said it does not keep records of every concession.
The committee described the deletion as a quality control failure rather than a mere administrative slip. It said it would monitor future statements of changes closely.
The Home Office responded that it has tightened its internal checks. It also said it will move to four scheduled sets of rule changes each year, which should make changes easier for advisers to plan around.
Home Office Guidance updates
The biggest change this week concerns trafficking victims. Version 11.0 of the Home Office guidance on temporary permission to stay for victims of trafficking and slavery withdraws an earlier policy. That policy had stopped people facing removal to countries signed up to both the ECHR and the Council of Europe trafficking convention, including France, from asking for reconsideration of negative trafficking decisions. The section has been replaced with new guidance on when reconsideration applies. Advisers with clients refused under the old wording may want to review those cases.
New guidance on conditional cautions for foreign national offenders was published for the first time. It sets out when a foreign national may be offered a caution instead of prosecution, on condition that they leave the UK and accept a re-entry ban of at least five years.
The immigration bail guidance has been updated to version 23.0. It adds a section on bail conditions for people with EU Settlement Scheme status, reflects changes made by the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025, and treats location reporting as a separate condition from consent-based location recording.
Two smaller updates are also relevant. The guidance on registering children as British citizens now covers children whose mother is in a same-sex relationship with a British citizen.
In addition, the sponsor guidance for the Seasonal Worker route now spells out the work that visa holders may and may not do.
New Competence Assessment Changes from the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA)
The Immigration Advice Authority published its 2026 competence assessment syllabuses for advisers at Levels 1, 2 and 3 this week. Alongside these, came changes to the IAA competent assessments. These show a move away from testing knowledge and towards assessing practical competence at every level. Main changes include the assessment will be taken at the start of your registration journey, code of standards included, resource book replaced with whitelisted websites and more.
The accompanying guidance confirms that competence assessments are not expected to resume until November 2026. Anyone planning to register, or to apply for a higher level, should build that pause into their timetable and use it to prepare against the new syllabuses.
HJT is delivering IAA-aligned training courses for aspiring immigration advisers at all levels, designed to support learners in developing the knowledge and practical competence required under the Immigration Advice Authority framework. Whether preparing for initial registration or progression to a higher level, advisers can use these courses to build confidence and prepare in line with the latest IAA requirements and gain insight of the new format of assessments. To explore available courses, visit HERE
For a further summary of changes to the IAA Assessments, visit our informative blog HERE
Pakistan internal relocation guidance updated
The Home Office has published version 3.0 of its country policy and information note on internal relocation in Pakistan, replacing the June 2024 edition. It contains much more information on socio-economic conditions, restrictions on freedom of movement and the treatment of returnees.
The core assessment on internal relocation has not changed. However, the expanded country information may be useful evidence for either side of a relocation argument, so advisers handling Pakistani protection claims should read the new edition in full.
The wider picture on work routes, settlement and asylum
Recent analysis from the Migration Observatory shows how much the system has contracted. Net migration fell to 171,000 in 2025, and around 34,000 Skilled Worker visas were granted in the year to June 2026. That is almost four-fifths fewer than two years earlier.
The asylum figures pull in opposite directions. The initial decision backlog has fallen to around 32,000, its lowest since 2019. Meanwhile, around 90,000 cases are waiting for an appeal decision, almost three times the level when the current Government took office. Roughly 16,000 asylum seekers were in hotels at the end of June 2026.
Settlement reform remains unresolved. The earned settlement consultation attracted more than 200,000 responses, and a final model has yet to be decided. The Royal College of Nursing has contrasted the £3,229 cost of settlement in the UK with fees of £500 or less in comparable countries.
The refugee family reunion route also remains suspended to new applications, as it has been since September 2025, with no date yet for replacement rules. Refugees wishing to bring family members must still use the standard family rules, including the £29,000 minimum income requirement.
Notable Key dates ahead
Several dates fall within the next three weeks. On 1 October, section 48 of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 comes into force, extending right to work checks and civil penalty liability beyond employees to workers, individual subcontractors, and gig and platform arrangements.
The same day, the UK–France returns deal will expire unless it is extended.
On 8 October, the first tranche of the rule changes in statement of changes HC 584 takes effect, including new freedoms for Skilled Workers recognised as victims of modern slavery, with further tranches following on 29 October, 30 November and 9 December.
The Line-by-line scrutiny of the Immigration and Asylum Bill then begins on 13 October.
We will cover each of these developments as they unfold with detail in future weekly updates and well as our live online courses. To view our course archive, visit HERE
Case Law
High Court: Lifelong UK Resident Refused British Citizenship on Good Character Grounds
In R (Akinyemi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 2388 (Admin), the High Court dismissed the judicial review because, although the claimant had lived in the UK all his life and had been entitled to register as British as a child, the Home Office was entitled to refuse his 2023 application on good character grounds after he had acquired 24 convictions, including causing death by dangerous driving.
The court rejected the argument that a statutory entitlement to registration under section 1(4) required a more lenient, good character test than naturalisation. It also found that, while the Home Office had been wrong to treat section 4L as requiring exceptional circumstances that directly prevented an earlier application, that error would not have changed the outcome because there was insufficient evidence that his parents would in fact have applied for registration had they known he was not already British. For the full case decision, visit here
Useful News links
Home Affairs Committee: Home Secretary gives evidence on the work of the Home Office
Protesters arrested in Gosport as migrant boat heads for Hampshire coast
UK borders are secure, minister says after migrant boat reaches coast undetected
Migrant dinghy carrying 59 people intercepted off Hampshire after 33 hours at sea
Migrant boat arrives in Dover after planned Gosport landing is aborted
Up to 100 migrants heading towards Isle of Wight as RNLI lifeboats launched
Channel small boat crossings tracker
Q&A: Why have small boat arrivals declined in 2026?
Written question HL2950: government amendments to the Immigration and Asylum Bill
Written question HL3307: refugee family reunion suspension
Written question HL2949: earned settlement timetable
Country policy and information note: internal relocation, Pakistan (September 2026)
Immigration Advice Authority: 2026 competence assessment syllabuses
Home Office Guidance and Policy Updates
To view the Home Office Guidance and Policies updated between 17th September 2026 to 24th September 2026, visit here
What’s On
With several of this week’s developments taking effect soon, advisers have a timely opportunity to get ahead by joining Mark Symes on 2 October at 10am for a Live webinar Summer 2026 – Immigration Law Update
Mark will carry out a comprehensive review on the key Home Office and court updates from summer 2026, including the latest rule changes, the new route for exploited Skilled Workers, the return of Erasmus+, provisions for children, refugees’ partners and adult children escaping domestic abuse, the extended right to work regime, the EU Settlement Scheme “granted in error” policy, and recent case law on sponsor licence revocation, nationality fairness, detention and deportation.
Considering the influx of changes that lie ahead, this session is one not to be missed.
For more information or to book, visit HERE
Early booking is recommended; for enquiries, email enquiries@hjt-training.co.uk or call 07446466898.
Written by Shareen Khan, Legal Content Writer, HJT Training
Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration advisors should consult the full decisions and official policy documents when advising clients on specific cases.