The Home Office has announced that foreign nationals will no longer be required to register with the police as part of their immigration conditions. This includes the requirement to advise the police of any change in their circumstances, such as a change of their residential address or employment.
This means that moving forward, individuals with existing police registration certificates will not have to retain them and individuals making fresh immigration applications will not have to produce proof that they have complied with the previous requirement to register with the police.
This will be welcome news to many individuals who faced difficulties administering the system in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. There was a severe lack of appointments, meaning that in some cases individuals were waiting for up to a year before they could attend an appointment to register with the police – with the next available appointments all falling in 2023 just before this change was announced.
Individuals who failed to attend a police registration appointment were at risk of criminal prosecution and/or revocation of their immigration status and so this change will come as a relief to those individuals left in limbo by the lack of appointments for registration.
However, it is important to note that individuals with limited leave are still required to notify the Home Office of any changes to their personal circumstances. There is a much easier process for this, however, with individuals notifying the Home Office using an online form which can be found here.
Originally Published 15 August 2022
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