As recent net immigration has reached an record high, which has flown in the face of the current government’s repeated promise to reduce net immigration, the government has been looking at how to reduce the number and has noted the considerable increase in Students’ families and Care Work visas.

As a non-EU citizen married to an EU national living in the UK, you might be eligible to join your EU spouse in the UK through a EUSS Family Permit, Spouse Visa, or Dependant Visa, depending on your spouse’s immigration status in the UK and your relationship. The options available to a spouse depend mostly on when the relationship started i.e., before or after the 1st of January 2021. To understand the two different routes, it is helpful to have some understanding of the different rules that applied before and after the UK left the EU.

Biometric residence permits (BRPs) cards have been relied on for the past 15 years as a quick and easy way to prove a Migrant’s Indetitity, and right to live and work in the UK, and replaced the previous paper status documents, which could be more easily forged and difficult to verify the authenticity of.

Since 2008 the government has moved towards using these biometrics systems, for passports, visas and driving licences. This is owing to the added security that the holder’s fingerprints and biodata information are stored in a scannable chip, which makes it easier to verify if it matches the user.

Following last year’s below-inflation fee increases in some areas, this year, the UK government has kept most of the fees for visa applications the same, which is welcome news for those planning to apply for visas in the near future.

Making an application for a UK visa is a comparatively expensive process, and Immigration rules can be complex, therefore, any mistakes the applicant makes can have severe implications in terms of time, stress and finances. It is for this reason that one is best advised to use a qualified UK immigration lawyer when applying for a visa, which can potentially save the hassle and cost of things going wrong.

Although using a UK immigration solicitor reduces the chance of an application being refused, it is by no means 100% guaranteed to be successful (anyone disputing that is not being honest). Things can go wrong… and sometimes the Home Office make mistakes.