Click the link below and open the pdf guide to immigration changes made in November and December 2016.
There are even further immigration changes expected in 2017 and in particular with the coming into force fully in February 2017 of the 2016 EEA Regulations, both immigration practitioners and lay applicants are expected to be fairly au fait with the changes so as to be able to prepare applications with a fair chance of success.
Some claimants may prove irremovable from the UK for various reasons. The question then becomes, whether in light of the recent extension of the Section 94B certification power to non- deportation cases, it is possible to utilise Home Office policy itself to argue that the certification procedure is not appropriate in a given case.
The question that becomes relevant for Zimbabwe nationals who have no claims or appeals pending is this: have the Home Office retained the person’s valid and current passport at some point? If so, without a legal basis of being in the UK, the chances of resisting removal to Zimbabwe are very much significantly reduced.
The 10–year parent route provides a basis on which leave to remain can be granted to a parent who has responsibility for or access to their child following the breakdown of their relationship with the child’s other parent.
This route is for single parents who:
have sole parental responsibility for their child; or
are the parent with whom the child normally lives, rather than the child’s other parent (who is British or settled); or
do not live with the child (who instead lives with a British or settled parent or carer), but they have direct access in person to the child, as agreed with the parent or carer with whom the child normally lives, or as ordered by a court in the UK.
The parent route is therefore not for couples with a child together who are in a genuine and subsisting relationship. An applicant can only apply for the parent route if they are not eligible to apply for the partner route.
So what can parents with an irregular immigration status do where they have a child born in the UK who is a British citizen?