UK IMMIGRATION NEWS

Highly skilled migrant win right to challenge visa rules

Tuesday, 16 December 2008

Thousands of highly skilled migrants are celebrating a legal victory over the Home Office after winning the right to challenge retrospective changes to their visa rules.

Campaigners from the Highly Skilled Migrants Program (HSMP) forum, which represents people with HSMP visas, applied to the High Court to seek permission to challenge government rules forcing skilled migrants to extend their visas to five years when they were originally promised permanent settlement in the UK, known as indefinite leave to remain, after four years.

Judge Stuart Issacs ruled that the HSMP Forum 'clearly has an arguable case' and threw out home secretary Jacqui Smith’s attempts to delay proceedings.

Amit Kapadia, executive director of the HSMP Forum, said: "The rule changes we are fighting against have been repeatedly condemned on all sides of politics, including by the government’s own MPs, members of the House of Lords, various government and non-government committees and human rights experts."

A full hearing is due soon.

Earlier this year, HSMP Forum won a long-running legal battle which resulted in forcing the government to repeal changes that made it much harder for skilled migrants to gain permanent settlement in the UK. The government subsequently repealed the stricter rules but not the change from four to five years.

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.