Changes to the Immigration Rules

A written ministerial statement has been laid in Parliament today outlining a number of changes to the Immigration Rules.

The changes amend the Immigration Rules further to theSupreme Court's judgment in the case of Alvi . They follow on from the earlier changes on 19 July 2012 in response to the same judgment, which required that requirements that were previously set out in Home Office guidance be incorporated into the Immigration Rules.

Some further amendments that are not related to the Supreme Court's judgment are also being made, including:

• changes to the family and private life rules and the transitional provisions for dependants of points-based system migrants;
• changes to Tier 1 (Exceptional talent) of the points-based system; and
• changes to the list of low risk countries for the purpose of Tier 4 of the points-based system.

The rules changes will come into effect tomorrow (6 September 2012), except the changes to the list of low-risk countries for Tier 4 and the Tier 1 (Exceptional talent) route, which will come into force on 1 October.

For full details, please see the Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules and the explanatory memorandum within the document.