Orla Papadakis

Update on Home Office decision timings

26th May 2022 By Orla Papadakis

Since February 2022, allegedly caused by the Home Office focussing on its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Home Office has been extending immigration application processing times.

Below are some key changes to note:

Entry clearance

In mid-March, the Home Office suspended the priority service on work, study, and family routes.

The priority service is still available for some visitor visa applications depending on where the applicant is applying from. You can check the services available at the visa centre you are applying from here: https://www.gov.uk/find-a-visa-application-centre.

Family visa applications

The Home Office announced on 11 May that the decision waiting times would no longer be up to 12 weeks, but 24 weeks.

Work visa applications

The published waiting time has not changed from 3 weeks on gov.uk. However, the website does warn ‘UKVI is prioritising Ukraine Visa Scheme applications. Applications for work visas may take longer to process.’

Visitor and transit visas

The waiting time has gone from three weeks to six weeks.

In country applications

Most in country application timings are, so far, not as delayed as out of country applications.

Significant exceptions to this are applications made on the ten-year private and family life routes and asylum/protection claims, both of which have been suffering significant delays even before the Ukraine crisis.

On gov.uk it states that there are currently no standard processing times for applications submitted as a partner, parent or on the basis of private life. The average waiting time for these times of applications is currently 11 months. The super priority service, which means you get a decision by the end of the next working day after your biometrics appointment, is still available for these applications.

For a full list of the applications in country eligible for priority or super priority services, see here: https://www.gov.uk/faster-decision-visa-settlement/eligible-visas-when-applying-inside-the-uk.

Asylum

The gov.uk website states that you will ‘usually get a decision on your application within 6 months’. However, the Refugee Council found in July 2021 that the average wait time for an initial decision is 1 to 3 years. The Home Office’s own published data shows a huge decline in the number of asylum applications decided within 6 months since 2014. There are also currently long waits to register asylum claims.

If you require immigration advice in relation to the above, we would be happy to help. Please contact us on 020 7401 6887 or by email at contact@gryklaw.com.

Late applications to the EU Settlement Scheme

30th September 2021 By Orla Papadakis

If you’re from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein, you and your family might have needed to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK. This includes people who hold a permanent residence document or an EEA biometric residence card.

The deadline for applying to the EU Settlement Scheme, for most people, was 30 June 2021. If you have missed this deadline, you can still make an application.

You must either:

meet one of the criteria for a later deadline to apply
have ‘reasonable grounds’ for not applying by 30 June 2021

The scheme provides the following not complete list of possible reasonable grounds for not applying by the deadline:

you’re a child, or applying for your child, and you did not know you needed to apply
your parent, guardian or local authority did not apply for you when you were a child
you have, or had, a medical condition which prevented you from applying
you lacked the physical or mental capacity to apply
you have care or support needs, or those caring for you were unaware of the deadline
you’ve been the victim of modern slavery
you’ve been in an abusive or controlling relationship
you did not have internet access, or access to relevant documents
you came to the UK on a work or study visa and became eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme while you were here, but did not know you could apply
you already have indefinite leave to enter or remain, and you did not know you could apply to the scheme
you had permanent residence status or a residence document that stopped being valid after 30 June 2021, and you did not know you needed to apply to the scheme
you had difficulty accessing support to apply because of coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions
another compelling practical or compassionate reason prevented you applying

The caseworker guidance suggests that the Home Office will be taking a fairly flexible approach to late applications, at least initially, stating:

For the time being, you will give applicants the benefit of any doubt in considering whether, in light of information provided with the application, there are reasonable grounds for their failure to meet the deadline applicable to them under the EU Settlement Scheme, unless this would not be reasonable in light of the particular circumstances of the case.

The best advice is to apply as quickly as possible, with evidence as to why the application is late. The evidence could, for example, include proof of a medical reason why the application has been delayed.

For more information on deadlines please see:

the government website: https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families/eligibility
the guidance: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004627/main-euss-guidance-v13.0ext.pdf

If you require immigration advice in relation to the issues above, we can help. Please contact us on 020 7401 6887 or by email at contact@gryklaw.com

Home Office application fees frozen for another year

29th April 2021 By Orla Papadakis

The newly published fees list on the government website shows that there is no change in application fees from the previous year. This means that for the third financial year in a row, application fees are for the most part frozen. However, there are some changes in application costs that are worth noting.

The Immigration Health Surcharge, a fee charged on top of the majority of application fees, has risen significantly in recent years. When the charge was introduced on 6 April 2015, the charge was £200 a year. In 2018, this fee doubled to £400 and last year, it rose to £624. As an example, this means that an applicant applying for 30 months further leave to remain as a spouse can end up paying an application fee of £1033, £19.20 for biometric processing and an added £1560 for the Immigration Health Surcharge, a total of £2612.20 before extra charges such as biometric appointment fees are factored in.

There is a lower IHS fee of £470 for a student or Youth Mobility Scheme visa and those who are under the age of 18 at the time of application.

In applications where the IHS is required, failure to pay would result in an application being invalid (paragraph 34(4) of the Immigration Rules).

There has also been a major development this year in the legal challenge to the Home Office’s fees for registering a child as a British citizen. On 18 February 2021 the Court of Appeal ruled that the fee of £1012 set by the Home Office for applications to register children as British is unlawful. This decision means that the Home Office should reconsider the fee for this type of application, fully assessing the impact of the fee upon children. The organisation that brought the case, PRCBC, has been given permission to appeal to the Supreme Court on their argument that the law does not allow such a high fee. You can find the Court of Appeal’s judgment here. Currently the fee remains at £1012 whilst it is being reviewed by the Home Office.

If you require immigration advice in relation to the issues above, we can help. Please contact us on 020 7401 6887 or by email at contact@gryklaw.com.