Changes to UK Border Agency guidelines regarding Legacy cases
It has recently been reported that the Home Office may be granting indefinite leave to remain for some 40,000 asylum seekers in the UK who would not ordinarily be eligible for settlement. The 40,000 asylum seekers are said to be among the 450,000 legacy cases which were originally expected to be cleared by 2011 although this remains doubtful.
Home Office Ministers having realised the difficulties in returning some applicants from poorer countries such as China, Iran, Somalia and Zimbabwe where there are serious human rights abuses, have decided to 'secretly' relax the rules in order to allow these asylum seekers leave to remain in the UK.
The Home Office confirmed that changes to the Immigration Rules (specifically rule 395C) were made in August of this year.
Changes to UK Border Agency guidelines regarding Legacy cases
The UK Border Agency recently made changes to their Enforcement Guidance and Instructions which can potentially affect those people caught within the legacy backlog. The amended guidelines provide for consideration to be given to 'residence accrued' as a result of UKBA delays. The guideline states that where a delay is particularly significant, it can be considered as a contributory factor to grant leave (see case of Court of Appeal judgement in HB (Ethiopia) & others v SSHD [2006] EWCA Civ 1713).
for more information please click here :http://www.ergensharif.co.uk/LegacyCasesUpdate.aspx
Applicants who feel that they have exceptional circumstances so that their case should be prioritised should also contact our lawyers to discuss the best way to progress their case with UKBA.
