Grounds for refusal and re-entry bans

The rules set out in the Immigration Rules, Part 9 are a list of common grounds on which an application for entry clearance, permission to enter or permission to stay can be refused, which are in addition to any grounds for refusal included in the specific requirements set out in the Parts and Appendices of the Immigration Rules covering the relevant immigration route. Part 9 also includes grounds for the cancellation of existing entry clearance or permission.

Part 9 was restructured and rewritten in Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 813, which came into force for applications decided on or after 1 December 2020. Originally known as the ‘General grounds for refusal’, the Part is now titled ‘Grounds for refusal’, although ‘Suitability’ is now the term that seems to be used as an umbrella term for these matters. These changes were made as part of the Home Office’s Simplification of the Immigration Rules project, further to recommendations of the Law Commission.

The broad intention for the Part is to set out in one place common grounds which will apply across all routes in the

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