Immigration newsletter 04 Aug 2010

UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently led the largest UK delegation to India since the end of British rule in India.  This included the chancellor, George Osborne, Foreign Secretary William Hague, Vince Cable Business Secretary and a number of top businessmen. For the first time ever the British Government has said that they will take into account the views of the Indian Government on UK immigration policy.  A Downing Street spokesman had the following to say:

"We want to work with India and other countries to ensure that high-skilled people can still come to Britain. We are going to talk to these countries about how to implement the cap."

UK Immigration will be abolishing the 'certificate of approval' scheme probably in the next six months. It is currently the case that if you are an immigrant wishing to marry or register a civil partnership you will firstly need to apply for a certificate of approval. The only exception to this is if you wish to marry in an Anglican church.

The UK Courts have decided that the certificate of approval scheme is in breach of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK Government also says that due to certain Court rulings it has “… weakened the scheme, and it is no longer an effective method of preventing sham marriage …”.

From 1 September 2010 if your UK Naturalisation and Citizenship application is refused and you wish UKBA to reconsider their decision you will need to pay a GBP100 fee. Since 6 April 2010 the UK Government has had the power to charge fees for the reconsideration of a refused application for UK naturalization or registration as a British Citizen.