UKBA response to Supreme Court judgment in 'Alvi'

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has published guidance on its approach following the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Alvi.

In this judgment, the Supreme Court set out that any requirement which, if not satisfied by the migrant, would lead to an application for leave to enter or remain being refused is a ‘rule’ within the meaning of section 3(2) of the 1971 Immigration Act and must therefore be agreed by Parliament.

Following this judgment, statements of changes to the Immigration Rules were laid before Parliament on 19th July (coming into force on 20th July) and 5th September (coming into force on 6th September). These changes to the Immigration Rules incorporate requirements into the rules that applicants had previously been required to meet but which were contained in guidance or other documents rather than the rules themselves.

The UKBA’s Alvi judgment guidance is available here.

In summary, the UKBA’s approach is:

• Any application outstanding at the time the changes to the rules made on 19th July and 5th September came into force will be decided on the basis of the rules in force at the time of decision.
• The UK Border Agency will not reconsider cases which were decided before the judgment where the time for bringing an appeal or judicial review has expired.
• Any case which is currently subject to appeal or judicial review proceedings, or in which the time for bringing an appeal or judicial review has not yet expired, will be considered in line with the judgment on the individual circumstances of the case.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.