In a landmark judgement, the High Court ruled on 8 April 2008 that the changes to the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme implemented in November 2006 were unfair and discriminatory due to their retrospective effect, and that the terms of the original scheme should be honoured for those already in the UK at the time of change.
A pressure group was established in late 2006 to campaign for the Government to alter its decision to force Highly Skilled Migrants who had entered the UK prior to November 2006 to qualify for an extension under a new set of criteria. As a result of these changes, thousands of Highly Skilled Migrants who had already established their lives in the UK were unable to qualify under the new scheme due to the more onerous conditions imposed.
It is still possible that the Government will appeal the High Court ruling. However, what is abundantly clear is that the Government will have to take account of this ruling on the illegality of changes with a retrospective effect in its approach to the roll out of the Points Based System. Any attempt to try to impose new conditions under PBS on overseas nationals already in the UK under the current immigration system, which will adversely affect their right to remain here, is susceptible to challenge. It is debatable whether this will lead to wholesale "grandfathering" in of the new legislation law, but the Government clearly ignores this judgement at its peril.
This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq
Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.
The original publication date for this article was 11/04/2008.
