Postgraduate doctors and dentists’ challenge to UK rules

Postgraduate doctors and dentists went to court to challenge changes to the UK Immigration Rules made in April 2006 that made it more difficult for them to enter or remain in the UK to undertake training at postgradudate level.

The case of R (BAPIO Action Ltd & Dr Imran Yousaf) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Health [2007] EWHC 199 (Admin) was heard in the UK High Court. BAIPO stands for British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin.

The judge held that the Home Office had failed to comply with its duties under UK race relations legislation because it had not carried out a ‘race equality impact assessment’, as required by UK law, before introducing the changes.

The department of the UK Home Office then called the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and now called the Border and Immigration Agency, had carried out a race equality impact assessment but it had done this after it changed the rules and not before.

The doctors and dentists had also argued that the Home Office had broken the law because it had not consulted people about the changes before it made them. The judge disagreed. He said that there was no such duty. The Home Office reason for not consulting was to ensure that doctors and dentists did not make applications in large numbers during the period between the change being proposed and being introduced. The judge accepted that this was a good reason for not consulting, so even if the Home Office had been under a general duty to consult it could have avoided consulting in this particular case.

BAIPO issued a press release saying that it is disappointed by the decision and is considering an appeal. Postgraduate doctors and dentists are essentially now treated as a form of student in the UK but are allowed to the paid work that constitutes their Foundation programme. It is also possible for postgraduate doctors and dentists to apply for work permits or under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP). The doctors and dentists in the BAIPO case argued that guidance from the UK Department of Health did not accurately represent the UK immigration rules and was designed to discourage them from applying under the HSMP. The judge, Mr Justice Stanley Burton, did not accept their arguments on this point. BAIPO Ltd stated in their press release that they felt ‘particularly let down’ by this aspect of the judgment.