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Family migration & the highway through hell

15 August 2019 / Ruth Mullen
Issue: 7853 / Categories: Features , Immigration & asylum , Human rights
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Ruth Mullen explores & explains the tortuous rules which govern the lives of migrants wishing to live permanently in the UK
  • In a bid to promote the economic wellbeing of the country, the people with the least are given the most arduous and costly road to follow.

There is surely a special place in hell for the drafters of the immigration rules which govern family migration and private life applications in the UK. Most migrants who wish to come permanently to the UK have no idea about the tortuous rules which will govern their application and determine its success. In 2012 the rules changed, purportedly incorporating into their foundations, Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998, which protects a person’s right to private and family life.

The main changes saw the increase of the probation period for spouses from two years to five years, requiring a further application at the half way mark, and the introduction of the financial requirement.

The fee for an applicant coming to

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