Highly skilled migrants get decision in their favor

The UK government has been unable to put in place the ‘unlawful’ changes they wanted to bring to the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP).

The UK government has been unable to put in place the ‘unlawful’ changes they wanted to bring to the Highly Skilled Migrant Program (HSMP).

Yesterday, the decision was ruled in favor of the HSMP by the High Court. The decision would mean that the government must follow its actual commitment according to which HSMP visa holders who had applied before November 2006, will be required to live for only four years working in the UK in order to be eligible for ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain’, and not the new requirement of five years.

The first judicial review by the HSMP Forum, which is a non-profit independent organization, was won in April 2008. The High Court ruled then that the Home Office did not acted in accordance to the law while applying retrospective changes to the criteria of the HSMP to people who were already working under the scheme.

Justice Cox DBE said in her judgment that it was a substantive and genuine expectation of all those HSMP visa holders that they would be able to benefit from the program as they expected at the time of joining the program.

Amit Kapadia, executive director of the HSMP Forum, said that he hopes the Home Office has learnt its lessons and won’t do similar things in future.