Outside the Immigration Rules and human rights applications

This topic covers applications for leave to enter or remain on human rights grounds, and on grounds other than those set out in the Immigration Rules. This includes applications that:

  1. request that the Home Office exercises its discretion to grant leave outside of the Immigration Rules (the Rules)

  2. request that the Home Office grants leave outside of the Rules in line with a published concession, and/or

  3. allege that the refusal and/or, in the case of leave to remain applications, the removal of a person consequent to the decision, would breach their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950 (ECHR)

Article 8 of the ECHR confers the right to respect for a person’s private and family life, home and correspondence, but is a qualified right which means that a contracting state can interfere with the right in certain circumstances. As from 9 July 2012, the Secretary of State for the Home Department (SSHD) adopted a more codified approach to the assessment of Article 8 claims, formulating Immigration Rules which purport

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Safe Passage International challenges Home Office refugee family reunion suspension

Safe Passage International has brought a legal challenge against the Home Office’s suspension of the Refugee Family Reunion pathway for child and partner reunification, which took effect on 4 September 2025, arguing that the decision is unlawful, irrational, and in breach of duties to safeguard children and comply with the Equality Act 2010. Safe passage notes that according to Home Office data, in the last year, more than 5,000 children have crossed the Channel, over half of them alone. Women and children are especially impacted by the suspension, making up 92% of all Refugee Family Reunion grants. The organisation states that the suspension forces refugees to use more restrictive and costly immigration routes intended for British citizens and settled migrants, imposing high fees, income thresholds, and procedural barriers that most refugees cannot meet, particularly women, children, and people with disabilities who previously formed the majority of applicants. Safe Passage and its legal representatives at Asylum Aid report significant psychological harm to separated families and warn that the remaining routes overlook the realities of those fleeing conflict and persecution, thereby increasing the likelihood that refugees will attempt unsafe journeys. Their case, lodged in November 2025 and granted permission in February 2026, highlights families unable to reunite, including one separated in Gaza, and is brought amid wider government plans to introduce further restrictions on refugee family reunion.

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