Legal News

Immigration Minister Mark Harper had recently said that changes to the family visit visa route would save taxpayers more than £100 million over the next decade and speed up the system for genuine applicants.

The family visit visa would be brought on par with all other visit visa categories in as much as that it would not have full right of appeal from this July.

Due to its special privilege of full right of appeal the system previously was being clogged up by a large number of appeals, many of which were being used by applicants as a means to provide further information instead of making a fresh application.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper said: the new change was part of ongoing work to streamline the UK immigration process. The system was chaotic and the new reforms have already seen net migration drop by almost a third.
By removing the right of appeal in these cases would prevent unnecessary delays and save £107 million over the next decade and allow officials to focus on more complex cases which include asylum claims and foreign criminal deportations.
Under the new rules, families may apply as many times as they wish and can provide additional information in support of their application.
A decision will also be received much more quickly through this method – typically 15 days in comparison to the appeal route, which can take up to eight months.
The changes, part of the Crime and Courts Act which received royal assent recently, will not apply to appeals made on human rights or race discrimination grounds.
The Crime and Courts Act makes provision about the National Crime Agency to abolish the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the National Policing Improvement Agency; to make provision about the judiciary and the structure, administration, proceedings and powers of courts and tribunals; to make provision about border control; to make provision about drugs and driving; and for connected purposes