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Migrants win legal victory

LONDON: In a significant victory for thousands of Indian migrants affected by controversial changes that were made recently to immigration rules and their retrospective application, the High Court here on Monday directed the U.K. Government to honour its original commitments under the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP).

The Judge, Ms. Justice Cox, upheld the contention in a petition moved by the HSMP Forum, a campaign group, that the changes were unfair. She said she was “unable to identify a sufficient public interest” to justify a departure from the original rules.

She agreed with a judgment in which Sir George Newman ruled in April 2008 that “the terms of the original scheme should be honoured” and that “there is no good reason why those already on the scheme shall not enjoy the benefits of it as originally offered to them.”

The petition related specifically to changes that affected the migrants’ right to settle in Britain.Under the original scheme, highly-skilled migrants could claim British residency after four years. Later, the eligibility requirement was raised to five years and this was being sought to be applied with retrospective effect.

The petitioners had argued that while the government had the right to apply the new criteria to migrants wanting to enter Britain in future, those who were already here should continue to be governed by rules that operated when they arrived.The government, they pointed out, was going ahead with the change despite Sir George’s ruling that it must honour the original terms of the migrants’ visas.

Amit Kapadia, executive director of the HSMP Forum, hailed the ruling as a “landmark victory” and hoped the Home Office would stop dragging its feet on the matter. “Instead of addressing the issue of illegal and burdensome immigration, the government has been penalising legal migrants, who are making a valuable contribution to the U.K. economy and paying taxes,” Mr. Kapadia said.

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