UK immigration conforms to HSMP Judicial Review
May 20 2009 by Gareth McConnell
HSMP win battle lasting three HS's
The Home Office has published important amendments for HSMP visa holders affected by the recent judicial review won by the HSMP Forum.
The document contains details of one-off payments to the thousands of highly skilled migrants who received an HSMP visa before 3 April 2006 and were then unlawfully forced to go down different UK visa routes because of unfair retrospective changes to the UK immigration system.
Also included is justice to the hundreds of migrants who applied for settlement after four years and had their UK visa application refused because they had not completed five years’ continuous residence in the UK. Effective immediately, these HSMP visa holders will be able to have their original settlement applications reviewed again on the original terms and conditions.
"This case involves an old set of rules which have since been swept away by Britain's new Points Based System. It helped us ensure our new points system gives migrants enough warning about any moves to make the rules tougher," a Home Office spokesperson told Global Visas.
“The Home Office has now put in place remedies for the highly skilled migrants affected by the judgment."
The u-turn by the Home Office is the final triumphant win for the HSMP Forum who fought a three year battle against three Home Secretary’s starting with Charles Clarke and finishing with Jacqui Smith. Smith prolonged the agony for thousands of HSMP visa holders by contesting a previous Judicial Review, wasting an estimated £85,000 of tax-payer money.
Following the win in April 09, the HSMP Forum published a 15 point wish list, early indications suggest over half those requests have been implemented.
Amit Kapadia, Executive Director of HSMP Forum told Global Visas, "We raised most of the issues and concerns our members had during the policy implementation and our communications with UKBA did yield some results.
"HSMP Forum wants UKBA to apply the same policy to those of our members who are on other skilled categories such as work permit and ancestral visa.
"We will continue to strive on this matter to safeguard migrants' settlement in Britain from the government's recent anti immigrant policies and from the possible ill effects of the Immigration and Citizenship bill."
One-off payments from the Home Office are now available to cover charges incurred for UK visa extensions and must be applied for within one year.
Letters will be issued by the UKBA to accompany the refunds as proof of residence in order to qualify for British citizenship and must be submitted with the application for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).
The changes extend to people who were refused a UK visa extension of stay and are in the process of making an appeal, those refused an extension of stay and switched to a different UK visa category and migrants who did not apply for an extension of stay and switched to a different UK visa category.
The UK Border Agency has confirmed there will be no charges incurred to those having their original visa application reviewed.
"We've always said that we would run our immigration system for the
benefit of the UK and that is why we have to ensure that people coming
here have the skills this country needs," said a Home Office spokesperson.
Following on from their success in the High Court, the HSMP Forum is continuing to campaign for skilled migrant workers in the UK. Current projects include ensuring the proposed Citizenship and Immigration Bill does not impose any restrospective rules on migrants already working in the UK and relaxing visa extension criteria for tier 1 migrants during the recession.
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