Immigration news

The Home Office has been forced to admit that its policy on UK visa fee waivers is unlawful. Under current rules, visa applicants from outside the UK only qualify for a visa fee waiver in ‘exceptional circumstances’, including civil war or a natural disaster. However, these rules are very different compared to in-country applications.

 

Sanwar Ali: comments and additional reporting As part of proposed reforms to the UK immigration system, announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel, British nationality laws will be changed to fix so-called ‘Windrush anomalies.’ The changes are set to be welcomed by some of the victims of the ‘outdated’ rules.

A lawsuit against a US visa sting set up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration targeting international students is being opposed by the Biden administration. Last month, Biden’s team requested that a class-action lawsuit over the fake University of Farmington be dismissed from Federal Claims Court.

 

Victims of the sting have said that the new presidential administration has been ‘no friendlier to their fight’ than the Trump administration.

Sanwar Ali: comments and additional reporting A Home Office UK immigration policy that has seen child asylum seekers placed in adult accommodation and threatened with deportation is facing legal action. Lawyers say that some children have wrongly been assessed as adults, with the Home Office recruiting its own social workers to carry out age assessments. Mistakes like these are more likely to happen if the Home Office uses its own social workers.

Sanwar Ali: additional reporting and comments. The Biden administration has given US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) $86 million to house migrants in hotels.

A bipartisan bill aiming to reform the US EB5 investor visa program has been introduced in the US Congress. Presented by Republican Senator, Chuck Grassley, and Democratic Senator, Patrick Leahy, the EB5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2021 calls for the reform and reauthorization of the EB5 Regional Centers Program for a period of five years.

 

In recent years, Indian nationals have emerged as prominent investors under this provision, which offers a direct path to US citizenship for migrants investing a certain sum of money into dedicated projects in specified areas.