20 April 2018
Will Windrush help reset attitudes to immigration?
‘Positive, welcoming, liberal, forward-looking’. This is how Michael Gove summarised the Government’s approach to immigration only this week. Did he not get the Windrush memo? Immigration lawyers, human rights organisations and migrant communities have for years now tried to draw attention to the dangerous impact of the Government’s policy of establishing a ‘hostile environment’. However public discussion of immigration has instead focused on net migration figures and linking immigration to crime and a crisis in public services. There has been publicity about successful appeals against deportation and doubts over the true age of asylum seeking children.
17 April 2018
The hostile environment extends to Commonwealth citizens
You may have read the recent stories in the press regarding people who have been here for years, in some cases, as long as 50, and who travelled from the Caribbean in the 1950s. After spending years in the UK, they are now receiving correspondence from the UKVI that they have to leave.
10 April 2018
International surrogacy - the legal challenges for US nationals bringing a surrogate child to the UK
Surrogacy as a way of having a family is often talked about more openly in the US than in the UK. As a consequence, people’s knowledge and understanding of the process differ greatly. In some US States, such as California, surrogacy is a mature industry in which surrogacy arrangements are well regulated and contracts (where a surrogate agrees to carry a child for intended parents for payment) are enforceable. However, documents or agreements which purport to be a surrogacy contract are not enforceable in the UK.
10 April 2018
UK Immigration Authorities complete a ‘180’ on absences from the UK
Since 13 December 2012, Americans coming to the UK with a visa issued under one of the popular ‘Points Based System’ categories, have been allowed to spend up to 180 days outside the UK in each 12 month period and still qualify for indefinite leave to remain at the end of five years. This 180 day period was calculated by looking back at each fixed 12 month period in the five years leading up to the date the applicant applied for indefinite leave to remain. Unfortunately, a change to the Immigration Rules which came into effect on 11 January 2018, has thrown this careful planning into disarray. The 180 day limit is now to be applied to a rolling 12 month period. This new calculation is also to be applied retrospectively and will impact anyone who applies for indefinite leave to remain after January 2018.
29 March 2018
KN Global immigration update - March 2018
Our March 2018 global immigration update provides details on key changes to immigration rules in global jurisdictions. In this month's issue we include Taiwan, France, India, Singapore, Poland and Canada. Please note that all immigration rules are subject to change and whilst correct at the time of publication, they should not be relied upon as legal advice or a statement of accuracy at a later date.