Family Immigration

In unrelated cases, Members of Parliament (MP's) have stepped in to help US citizens' UK immigration problems.

In one case, a British national married his US partner in New Zealand. When the husband was offered a job in the UK, the couple (who have two children) moved to the UK. However the couple say they were advised that the  US national could apply for residency once in the UK. This is not correct as in order to get leave to remain in the UK as the spouse of a UK national, it is necessary to be granted entry clearance before entering the country. In most cases it is not possible to switch categories once the person is in the UK.

Gherson & Co has successfully appealed against a refusal to allow a British woman's Kosovan husband to join her in the UK.

Our client came to the UK from Kosovo following the outbreak of war in his country. His asylum claim was not considered by the Home Office until after the war had ended and it was found that as there was now an international United Nations peacekeeping force present in Kosovo, the client was no longer at risk. He was found to be an entirely honest applicant.

A case brought by a lesbian couple to have their Canadian marriage recognised as a marriage in the UK have lost their legal battle - Wilkinson v Kitzinger and Another [2006] EWHC 2022 (Fam); [2006] ALL ER (D) 479 (Jul.

Gherson & Co has successfully appealed against a Home Office decision to refuse a South African mother permission to join her three grown-up sons and five grandchildren in the United Kingdom.

In the last few months we have posted several articles on this site relating to the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, which implement the European Citizens' Charter into UK domestic law on 30 April 2006.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that a provision allowing EU Member States to verify if certain child family members meet a condition for integration before allowing entry and residence is not contrary to EU or human rights law (case C-540 European Parliament v Council (2006) ECJ (Grand Chamber) 27/6/2006).

A senior judge at the Asylum & Immigration Tribunal has said that it will only be in exceptional cases where a UK based parent will have sole-responsibility for a child living outside the UK, where the everyday carer of the child is the other parent (TD (Paragraph 297(i)(e): "sole responsibility") Yemen [2006] UKAIT 00049).

On 1st July 2006 the concept of illegitimacy will no longer exist in British nationality law.

Under the British Nationality Act 1981, a father could only pass British citizenship automatically to his child if he was married to the child's mother at the time of the child's birth. If he was not married to the mother at the time of birth, the child is referred to as 'illegitimate'. If British nationality is not passed down to the child by the mother, then the child had to apply to the Home Office to be 'registered' as a British citizen.

Stop press: to see information on the 23 May 2007 Court of Appeal decision on this case click here.

Following the coming into force of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 on 30th April 2006, the Immigration & Nationality Directorate (IND) has published new policy guidelines based on the Regulations. The guidelines are known as the European Directorate Instructions (EDI). They are instructions to the IND's own officers when making immigration decisions related to EEA nationals and their families, but the instructions are also used by lawyers and individuals for guidance.