Immigration involves the process of entering one country from another to take up permanent residence.

The fair and efficient control of immigration is one of the most important tasks for any Government. In one-way or another, the operation of immigration control affects every citizen of this country.

Each country has it’s own rules on immigration, as does the United Kingdom. Continual changes create various different acts that define these rules and regulations that immigrants must adhere to.

The legislation that governs immigration today is as follows: Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, Asylum and Immigration Act 2004.

The Immigration laws apply to the following three categories:

Spouses and Fiancés /Fiancées

According to the rights of entry under immigration control spouses and fiancés of UK citizens may enter the UK provided they have entry clearance before they travel.
Marriage must be to a person who is present and settled in the UK. Marriage within the UK must be subject to certain procedures under the Asylum and Immigration (treatment of claimants, etc) Act 2004.
A couple must be legally married which is recognized in the UK. The problem with this is that people can forge documents and certificates to say that they are married when they are not.
Fiancés must be legally free to marry. This rule is to ensure that fiancés are not committing bigamy under English law, which can be discriminatory against religions, which allow marriage to different people at the same time.
Couples must intend to live together permanently. This rule is quite difficult to prove because couples would have to show that they plan bur or rent a house or perhaps live with relatives. Would immigration control accept the word of relatives as proof? This rule is also discriminatory, as British couples do not have to prove intended permanency of living together in order to get married. How could this be proved? The other problem with this is that, it may encourage one person to dupe another into marrying them with the intention of staying in Britain. The issue of sham marriages was addressed in R (Mahmood) v SSHD [2001] 1 WLR 840 when he married a woman a week before he was to be deported. This proved that marriage does not entitle one to stay in the country even though he married a British citizen. This was also the case in VK Kenya [2004] UKIAT 00305, where the appellant married but shortly after separated from his wife showing no signs of reconciliation until his appeal hearing date was set.
Couple must have met. In the case of Meharban (6073) the couple had not met. This can be discriminatory against cultures where marriages are arranged.

Children

According to immigration rules there are various conditions that must be satisfied by immigration officers at the British Embassy before a child can seek leave to enter the UK to join their parent or parents, these conditions begin; -

A child must have entry clearance;
Conform to that of the definition of a ‘child’ which is defined by The Children Acts Act 1989 as any persons under the age of 18;
Must not be leading an independent life and is unmarried
Accommodated in accommodation owned or occupied exclusively by their parent or ...

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Children

A child must have entry clearance;
Conform to that of the definition of a ‘child’ which is defined by The Children Acts Act 1989 as any persons under the age of 18;
Must not be leading an independent life and is unmarried
Accommodated in accommodation owned or occupied exclusively by their parent or parents without reliance on public funds.

Additional evidence maybe requested in order to prove the age of the child and that they are in fact a child of the person that they say they are. Evidence such as; - medical or school reports, and DNA fingerprinting are all acceptable forms of evidence this in turn may cause various problems as medical technology and funding may not be adequate.

There is no specific requirement when a child has one parent due to the death of the other parent, other than to provide evidence of the parent’s death by issuing a death certificate. Applicants must show that the parent, the child seeks to join is settled in the UK and has “sole responsibility”, as seen in the Philippines UKLAT 00109 case where a Pilipino mother came to the UK leaving her children behind with relatives. The children were denied entry clearance on the grounds that the mother was not the “sole responsibility” of the children, as relatives were the main carers of the child. Also there may be serious or compelling family considerations in the child’s country of residence that make it beneficial for the child to live with the parent in the UK, such as lack of money.

Other Relatives

Following specific rules, certain relatives can be brought into the UK by people of settled status.

The Immigration Rules say that widowed mothers and fathers aged 65 or over, and parents and grandparents travelling together, one of whom is 65 and over can come to the UK. In certain circumstances, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, uncles and aunts over the age of 18, and also parents and grandparents under 65, may be allowed to come.

Nevertheless these members more often than not are parents and grandparents. The settled child or grandchild must be able to support their relative and accommodate them without any recourse to public funds.

However other family members can come to the UK but have a several rules to follow in order that they may be allowed entry, some of these rules are often quite strict. One can currently live and be settled in the UK legally with no time limit on the stay provided that they are able to show that:

One must be completely or mainly financially dependent on the relative they are coming to stay with.
One must not have any other close relatives in their own country who can support them financially; and
One must have enough money to support and accommodate themselves without help from public funds.

If there are exceptional compassionate circumstances, children over 18, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles and other parents and grandparents who live alone may come if they meet the above requirements.

Clearly relatives are faced with several strict rules. These laws may not be quite as easy to follow. There may be problems for some relatives to enter the UK. This could be due to the fact that there are various situations whereby individuals cannot meet all the requirements.

For instance someone may have a relative in his or her own country that could support him or her but for whatever reason will not. How would this be proved?

Or perhaps a single mother really needs to immigrate to the UK to earn money and would need the support of family members to help look after the child. However the relative that she may live with in the UK may not be able to support her financially, so until she can work she may be refused entry.

These are just a few situations whereby individuals may genuinely need to enter the UK but cannot satisfy all the regulations.

This is just one of the reasons immigration laws are constantly changing to create the best possible system.

Group members

Raychelle Swift 0483358 Lucy King 0482937

Daljit Kaur Hunjan 0463648 Emma Gullock 0470343

Rajinder Kaur Uppal 0466008

Amandip Kaur 0467888

Gurpinder Tiwana 0465234

Stavrou Kalliopi 0378373

Kelly Forrester 0484540