High Court
The name for the national court in the UK. Appeals from this court go the Court of Appeal and House of Lords.
Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP)
A category of immigration application under the immigration rules that allows highly skilled people to come to the UK to work for UK employers and also in self-employment.
Home Office
Ministry of the UK government that oversees the handling of all nationality, immigration and asylum applications and enforcement and developing policy in these areas of law.
Home Secretary
The UK government Minister responsible for the Home Office and thus having responsibility for immigration and nationality.
House of Lords (HL)
When lawyers talk about the House of Lords they are usually referring to the highest level of court in the UK. In fact this is just one part of the House of Lords: the House of Lords as a whole is part of the UK parliament, the UK’s legislature. The UK parliament is divided into the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Human Rights
In UK law this will most often be a reference to rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Humanitarian Protection
The immigration status give to people who do not qualify for recognition as a refugee, but cannot return to their country of origin because of the risk of a breach of their human rights. ‘Humanitarian protection’ is the UK’s expression of the European Union (EU) category of ‘subsidiary protection’.