Young migrants will benefit from faster and affordable routes to settle in the UK, says charity

19 March 2022 1 min read Nina Jacobs Social Care Asylum

Children’s rights campaigners are celebrating changes to immigration rules which will make it easier and more affordable for young migrants to settle in the UK.

Children whose parents are living in the UK under the 'private life' immigration route will be entitled to indefinite leave to remain. Picture: Adobe Stock

The new rules come into effect on 20 June just before the tenth anniversary of the existing ‘ten-year route’ process, through which discretionary settlement applications can be made.

However, campaigners that have fought against the introduction of this process since 2012 on the grounds it is lengthy and expensive, are claiming the rule changes as a “major victory” for migrant children and young adults wanting to live in the UK.

Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) said it had long argued the ten-year route process was “an injustice” to the migrant children and their families that had to live within it and should be replaced.

The new rules, which follow years of public campaigning, will be “life-changing” for thousands of children and young people who have grown up in the UK and call it their home, CCLC said.

“We are so proud to have contributed to making the UK immigration system more humane and more affordable for migrant children and young people,” the charity explained.

Announcing the reforms in a parliamentary statement, Home Office minister for immigration Kevin Foster said it would allow children born in the UK during their parent’s time on the ‘private life’ route to qualify for permission as their dependents.

CCLC said this meant these children would be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain from the age of seven, subject to “residence and reasonableness conditions”.

For non-UK born children and adults, they would be able to apply for settlement after five years rather than 10. While this concession was previously announced in October 2021, the new rules broaden those eligible to settle after five years to include all children on the ‘private life’ route, it added.

Furthermore, the changes will allow children and young adults to apply for longer periods of leave extending current restrictions from two and a half years to five years.

CCLC said its campaigning, together with other organisations including We Belong, had been strengthened by its membership of the Home Office Simplification of the Immigration Rules taskforce.

“Our membership of this taskforce continues, and from within it CCLC will continue to fight for the rights of children and young people,” it said.