Applying in the UK

The terms ‘leave to enter/remain’ and ‘permission to enter/stay’ are used interchangeably. The word ‘permission’ replaces ‘leave’ in the Immigration Rules for simplified routes, but the former term is still used in other categories of stay and the relevant legislation.

In-country applications

A person subject to immigration control in the UK is generally required to make an application in the UK if:

  1. they wish to stay beyond the date their current leave/permision expires, including when they are eligible for settlement (indefinite leave to remain)

  2. their circumstances change so that they no longer meet the requirements of their current immigration route and wish to remain in the UK in a different route

  3. they wish to change their immigration route, or

  4. they wish to regularise their immigration status, eg they have overstayed their previous leave or entered the UK illegally

Where a person already has leave to enter or leave to remain, any application to extend, reduce or otherwise alter this leave is termed under the Immigration Rules an application to ‘vary’ their leave.

In-country applications are decided by the Home Office

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Lords Committee criticises lack of advance information on immigration policy changes

The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has criticised the Home Office for failing to provide sufficient information in support of measures set out in its latest Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 977, which sets out significant changes to immigration policy. The Statement tightens the Skilled Worker visa route by removing care workers/senior care workers from the list of occupations eligible to recruit migrant workers form overseas and tightens conditions for granting Skilled Worker visas—affecting around 180 occupations (which could lead to a 40 drop in grants). The Committee highlighted the lack of consultation and the absence of an impact assessment, which it says severely undermines parliamentary scrutiny. It called for the impact assessment to be published before the end of the current summer recess. The Statement also closes two schemes which assisted Afghans who supported UK operations and aims in Afghanistan, including through resettlement. A submission to the Committee argued this would permanently abandon people in need, especially in light of a 2022 data breach recently revealed through the lifting of a superinjunction. The Home Office responded that most eligible applicants had already applied and that 95% of current applications were found ineligible. The report states that the Committee had previously repeatedly requested the Home Office to provide sufficient information when laying new legislation with potentially significant consequences, but ‘despite acknowledging this to be correct practice’ it had failed to do so again. It includes a link to detailed submissions sent to the Committee by the Work Rights Centre, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association and the Home Office.

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