The United Nations last month described Afghanistan as a graveyard for human rights that enforces gender apartheid using torture and corporal punishment. Women and girls aged over 11 are excluded from education and banned from most forms of paid employment.
I have got a number of constituents concerned that their visa, they will reach this point in April, and they're concerned that they will have to start all over again under a new process.
However, the government bans British citizens, including those with another nationality, from ETAs, meaning they either need to apply for a British passport if they don't have one or spend £589 on a certificate of entitlement. Both options take several weeks.
More than 300,000 children living in the UK could be left "in limbo" if the Home Office proceeds with its shake-up of legal migration rules, a think tank has warned. The Home Secretary outlined proposals in November to end automatic settlement status after five years. This means 1.35 million legal migrants already in the country nearly a quarter of them children, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) would be forced to wait longer for settled status. Under the proposed changes, migrants would apply for settled status after 10 years, though this could be fast-tracked or extended based on their "contributions" to the UK.
As part of a UK crackdown on immigration, most international students have been prevented from bringing their dependants. Shortly after Houbi's story, the UK government made a U-turn on its policy, stating it would support the evacuation of dependants on a case-by-case basis. Houbi and her family have now reached Jordan and will shortly travel to the UK. They are the only family travelling together from Gaza whose evacuation the British government has facilitated.
Labour's crackdown on foreign workers could cost the UK economy millions, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned. Plans to increase the salary threshold for workers seeking to come to Britain, as part of wider changes to bring down immigration numbers, would cost between 520-710 million because thousands fewer people would be contributing to the UK economy, an independent watchdog has found.
People who migrate to the UK will be eligible for benefits and social housing only when they become British citizens and those who arrive by small boats could wait up to 30 years for long-term residency under new plans outlined by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood. The plans could result in migrants only becoming eligible for benefits and social housing if they first become British citizens, rather than upon being granted settlement as is currently the case.
The political head of the body that oversees the European Convention on Human Rights has told the BBC that it is 'absolutely ready' to discuss reforms amid pressure from the UK and other countries over migration. Speaking exclusively to the BBC, Alain Berset, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, predicted that quitting international human rights law would leave the UK 'isolated' on the world stage.
Far-right extremists have been actively trying to stoke violence this year, particularly around the contentious issue of asylum hotels, where public fears over crime and immigration converge.
An analysis published by the Royal Society in 2024 found that the U.K.'s global talent visa is the most expensive compared to other leading science nations, primarily due to health system charges.
