WIth effect from 11th November 2025, the UK Home Office effected a replacement of the body of immigration rules guiding the grounds and circumstances by which a person may, will usually, or must be refused a visa or leave to remain, have an existing visa or leave to remain cancelled or banned from a re-entry.
The Home Office has introduced and implemented a body of rules called PART SUITABILITY to replace Part 9 and other parts of the immigration rules which hitherto regulated the grounds for refusal of visa, refusal to extend stay or to cancel an existing visa or stay.Though it is largely a recopy of Part 9, the scope of Part Suitability is much wider and applies to virtually all immigration routes, except Appendix EU, Settlement Protection and most parts of the rules relating to Asylum (Part 11).
The effect of the implementation of Part Suitability follows the current pattern of torrential and unabating changes to the UK immigration rules.The spewing of immigration venom appears to be the most pliable and easily available answer the politicians have to the disenchantment and angst of the citizens against failure of government to live up to its responsibilities. There is an apparent uncanny belief that the political survival of those in power is directly linked to the extent to which they can out- compete the opposition in the area of dehumanisation, scape- goating and demonization of immigrants. Who will rescue the immigrants from the fallout of this brutal political and power struggle by a bunch of politicians whose idea of a greater British society does not extend beyond the bashing of immigrants.
Applicants and individuals who already have visas or permission to stay are now required to be as saintly and as spotless as a dove. Even the slightest misdemeanor can now be a ground to refuse an application or to cancel an existing visa or permission.
We will attempt to highlight the summary of key aspects of the Part Suitability that applies to the majority of applicants. There are about 36 sub headings in all.We will endeavour, in a subsequent piece, to provide a more detailed exegesis of the entire spectrum of the new Part Suitability.
1) NON-CONDUCIVE GROUNDS:
An application must be refused and any existing visa or permission held must be cancelled if the decision maker considers his presence in the UK not to be conducive to the public good because of their conduct, character or associations or other reasons, including custodial or non- custodial criminal convictions of any length of time. A decision maker can refuse an application on the basis of character and there is no limit to what he can consider to be bad character.
2) CRIMINALITY GROUNDS:
An applicant must be refused and any visa or permission held must be cancelled where the applicant:
a) has been convicted of a criminal offence in the UK or overseas for which they have received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more,or
b) is a persistent offender who shows a particular disregard for the law, or
c) has committed a criminal offence,or offences which caused serious harm.
An application may be refused and any visa or permission held may be cancelled if the criminal conviction is for a custodial sentence less than 12 months or if the penalty is a non- custodial sentence.
If the application is for a visit visa, an applicant who has been sentenced to a custodial period of less than 12 months or who received a non custodial must be refused unless more than 12 months has passed since the end of the custodial sentence or unless more than 12 months has passed since the date of the non- custodial sentence. It is important to emphasize that a person who has a criminal conviction in the UK or outside the UK, or who has committed an offence that has caused serious harm will be indefinitely unable to get a visa, or be able to extend a stay and any visa or stay held by the person must be cancelled. It is left to be seen how the courts will deal with this and other provisions of the new rules, especially from the angle of a legal challenge based on the right to respect for private and family life.
3) SAFEGUARDING GROUND:
A family application ( Appendix FM) must be refused if the decision maker considers that the applicant’s parent or parent’s partner poses a risk to the applicant. This, an applicant who is applying to join a parent must be refused if there is any reason to believe that the parent or the parent’s partner may pose a risk to the child.
4)SHAM MARRIAGE:
An application or any visa or permission held may be cancelled if the decision maker is satisfied that it is more likely than not the person is, or has been involved in a sham marriage.
5) DECEPTION GROUNDS:
Deception is a mandatory ground to refuse an application or to cancel an existing visa or permission. Acts that can amount to deception include:
a) providing false documents,
b) making false representations,
c) providing false information,
d) not disclosing relevant facts.
If the decision maker believes that any of the above occurred, but that they do not rise to the level of a deception, the decision maker may, nonetheless, refuse the application or cancel any existing permission. A refusal on the grounds of deception carries an entry ban of 10 years.
6) PREVIOUS BREACH OF IMMIGRATION LAW GROUNDS:
This is a mandatory ground to refuse an application and to cancel any existing permission.
An applicant will be treated as having breached immigration laws if,aged 18 or over, they:
a) overstayed their permission by more than 30 days, or,
b) breached a condition attached to their visa or permission, or
c) an illegal entrant, or,
d) used deception in relation to a previous application.
Those who are refused for overstaying must face a mandatory re-entry ban period ranging from 12 months,2 years,5 years or 10 years, depending on length and circumstances of overstay and of departure from the UK. When the period of ban has expired, an applicant may still be refused if the decision maker believes that the applicant has acted to frustrate immigration control.
OTHER KEY REASONS TO REFUSE AN APPLICATION OR TO CANCEL EXISTING VISA OR PERMISSION: These are discretionary grounds.
7) Failure to provide required information ,
8) Debt to the NHS,
9) Custom breaches,
10) change of circumstances,
11) withdrawal of sponsorship,
12) Sponsor loses licence,
13) change of employer,( skilled workers, etc),
The above grounds are not exhaustive.These are the grounds that we consider to be of interest to the majority of applicants and we intend to expand this write up in subsequent series to cover the grounds that are left out.
The major take away here is that all persons who are not British citizens and who are subject to the UK immigration laws must be extremely careful going forward and must consciously strive to keep away from any situation that may call their character to question. Decision makers are empowered to regard a hitherto harmless conduct as consequential. There is now a need for extra care in the making of applications . There must be full and honest disclosure of all information.Applicsnts must avoid any semblance of deception, dishonesty, non-disclosure, false documents, false information and to cooperate fully with the Home Office in all matters relating to an application.The occasion calls for reliance on the services of a UK licenced and regulated immigration adviser from the beginning and not when the applicant is already in a quagmire. These changes ,though largely a re- enactment of Part 9 of the Immigration Rules have greater effect on applicants who are in the UK with various categories of leave to remain, especially on the basis of family life. This is because the route -specific suitability rules which hitherto applied was much softer.
This writer believes that the courts will have occasion to weigh in on this matter, especially in the determination of the extent to which Article 8 ECHR will operate to cushion the hardship that these new rules will unleash on families, especially where their ordinary application would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child or other family members.
Eddie Onyeka
Lead Consultant.