Cranbrook Legal's Blog

Following the introduction of the Immigration (European Economic Area Nationals) Regulations 2019, non-EU extended family members of EU Citizens are now granted a right of appeal against a refusal decision relating to a family permit or residence card.  It is anticipated that the changes will come into force towards the end of this month. The last couple of years has seen many changes to rights of appeal for extended family members with ultimately appeal rights afforded to  those who had applied under the 2006 Regulations and not the 2016 Regulations. This too was challenged by way of a Judicial Review which led to the Home Office accepting that the existing regulations should be amended to reflect that applications refused under the 2016 regulations should be granted rights of appeal. If you have previously had such an application refused, feel free to contact us today to consider your options.

After months of changes, u-turn's and rumours the Home Office have announced changes to the Tier 1 visas with the changes affecting the Investor and Entrepreneur Visa routes to the United Kingdom. There are also changes to other areas of the law. Tier 1 Investor Visas In a statement from the Home Office, they announced that "Applicants will be required to prove they have had control of the required £2 Million for at least two years, rather than 90 days, or provide evidence of the source of those funds".  It is thought that these changes will help fight against those looking to illicit money flowing into the UK through the investor route. London is attractive to foreign investors for its stability, rule of law and the standard of education which consequently attracts a large sums of money from abroad. Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visas In December 2018, Caroline Nokes MP announced the scrapping of the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa at the same time as introducing the Innovator visa.

Earlier this month, the High Court held in the case of R(Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants) v SSHD [2019] EWHC 452 (Admin) that the Right to Rent checks introduced by the Government previously are in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The case was always difficult however the Claimants argued that the checks did not account for discrimination on the basis of Nationality and furthermore, there was no real monitoring of the checks.  A large volume of evidence consisting of surveys, testimonies and a mystery shopper against the limited evidence provided by the Home Office moved the Judges to find that the Right to Rent Scheme was discriminatory. It was found that the checks had limited effect in controlling immigration but the discriminatory nature of the checks outweighed this. The Home Office attempted to argue that if the checks were discriminatory, the discrimination was caused by the Landlords and not the Home Office Scheme.  This submission was rej

There has been a number of references to the UK Government’s “hostile approach” to immigration in the UK.  Since Christmas 2018, we have had a number of new enquiries come in from friends and family of loved ones who have been detained by the Home Office - UKVI. The law is very clear with respect to who can and cannot be detained.  Those with no leave to remain in the United Kingdom are liable to be detained and removed from the United Kingdom. There are currently 10 immigration removal centres in the United Kingdom, which can hold up to 3000 people at any one time. The majority of those who populate the detention centres are men, however Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre in Bedfordshire is one of the only detention centres, which holds women. Those without valid leave to remain in the United Kingdom, or those whose hopes of remaining in the United Kingdom are on the decision of an application submitted to the Home Office, live in fear of detention and removal from the United Ki

Cranbrook Solicitors has continued to achieve its targets with a number of Visa Applications concluded successfully. We are proud to report that a client's application for entry clearance to the UK as the Spouse of a British National was issued.  We had successfully challenged the initial refusal of the Application via the First Tier Tribunal (who allowed the appeal on the day of the hearing).   The case was made complicated by the fact that the Home Office did not accept her Sponsor was employed as stated. This was challenged with an abundance of evidence which the Tribunal accepted as genuine.   After a long wait the British High Commission in Pakistan issued the visa and our client is now on her way to the UK to join her husband. In another case, a returning client who we have represented previously had an unfortunate change in circumstances which could have jeopardised his application for an extension to his leave to remain application.   The team at Cranbrook Leg