Newly Married Couples Can Live in the UK According to Court Ruling

Monday, 11 August 2008

The House of Lords have ruled that said forcing a migrant to prove a relationship is genuine is 'arbitrary and unjust', even if they were getting married only weeks before their permission to stay in Britain ran out.

Foreigners will now once again be free to prolong their stay in the UK by getting married at the last minute to a person who already has permission to live here.

The ban was brought in by then-Home Secretary David Blunkett in 2004, amid concerns that thousands of people a year were using sham marriages to stay into the UK. They introduced the Certificate of Approval which was targeted at those who marry Britons, or EU citizens with full residency rights, in order to gain permission to live here indefinitely. Migrants were forced to apply for the certificate to marry if they lived outside the EU, or had only limited rights to live in the UK.

Those with only three months leave to stay remaining were routinely refused on the grounds that the ceremony was intended only to avoid removal from the country.

However the regulations were ruled as illegal by the High Court in 2006 and then Appeal Court last year. And the House of Lords' ruling demolished this law, on the grounds that it is a breach of Section 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to marry.

Three couples who had initially been refused the right to marry brought the cases to the courts. Mahmoud Baiai, 37, an Algerian illegal immigrant, was refused permission to marry Izabella Trzcincka, 28, a Polish national who was legally entitled to live in the UK.

The two other cases related to asylum seekers, including one who had been told to leave the country but wanted to marry someone already given protection as a refugee.

All three couples were issued later allowed to stay before their cases reached the House of Lords.

However, Damian Green, the shadow Immigration minister, said: "This is yet another defeat for the Government in the courts under their own human rights legislation - which could make it easier for bogus marriages to take place. It is vital that we are protected against sham marriages set up to evade immigration laws - but the current arrangements are clearly not working."

The Home Office will now be forced to consider the merits of a union being made even at the very last moment before a migrant is due to leave the UK.

If you are interested in UK Visas, contact Migration Expert for information and advice on which visa is best suited to you. You can also try our visa eligibility assessment to see if you are eligible to apply for a visa to the UK.

HSMP Visa Holders to reclaim old visa extension rules.

A recent court ruling by a UK High Court has meant that visa extension rules from the old Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) will be made available for some individuals.

A recent court ruling by a UK High Court has meant that visa extension rules from the old Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) will be made available for some individuals.

The UK High Court ruled that the government's retrospective changes to HSMP extension criteria were unlawful. This meant that people who received their HSMP approval letter prior to 7 November 2006, were able to apply for an extension under the older, easier extension criteria.

The HSMP was a points based immigration program that allowed highly skilled individuals from around the globe to live and work in Britain provided they achieve enough points based on a variety of criteria such as age, past earnings and qualifications. It has since been replaced this year by the Tier 1 (General) program which is part of the UK’s new five-tier points based system.

The ruling came about after the HSMP Forum Ltd, a support group for HSMP visa holders had filed a judicial review in response to the legislative changes, stating that HSMP visa holders had a "legitimate expectation" that the new criteria would not apply to them.

The court ruling was made on 8 April 2008, and the British government is now in the process of amending the policy to accommodate HSMP Visa holders who are eligible for extensions under the old rules.

People who received their HSMP approval letter after 5 December 2006 are still required to comply with the new stricter extension rules.

The new rules require them to be re-scored against the same points test under which they were originally assessed when they first applied for their HSMP visa, where as applicants under the old rules only need to show that they have made significant efforts to be productive and active in the UK .

If you are interested in UK Visas, contact Migration Expert for information and advice on which visa is best suited to you. You can also try our visa eligibility assessment to see if you are eligible to apply for a visa to the UK.