British industry is already feeling the strain of Labour’s restrictive immigration curbs, and a move to zero net migration could exacerbate this. The Home Office continues its determination to reduce migration as last week’s Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules made clear, with tightened salary rules for sponsored workers and the first ever nationality-specific ban on student visa applications. Although the Home Office states this will be a temporary measure, does t

On 5 March the Home Office laid a Statement of Changes to the UK Immigration Rules.  Here are the key points to know from a business immigration perspective. The English language requirement will be increased for applications for settlement (ILR) submitted from 26 March 2027 in certain categories.  The current English language requirement for settlement is Level B1 (intermediate) from the Common European Framework of Reference, in speaking and listening.  The new requirement

The following article first appeared in Free Movement   on 23 February, 2026. From 25 February the UK will begin enforcing pre-departure checks which require carriers to confirm that passengers have permission to travel. This has raised concern that dual British nationals who only hold a foreign passport will be denied boarding or refused entry to the UK. The headlines are frantic: “New passport rules set to affect more than one million Brits – who risk being banned from flig

The Liberal Democrats have urged Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to delay new border controls that could prevent British dual nationals from entering the UK. From 25 February 2026, dual citizens must present a valid or expired British passport, or a £589 certificate of entitlement (which takes 8 weeks to obtain), or risk being denied boarding. Families report cancelled trips to see dying relatives and attend funerals, while others fear being stranded abroad. Commenting to The

Business immigration in 2026: The UK and US are converging, but not in the way employers expected In the latest episode of The Employment Law Podcast  immigration series, Alex Finch and Rebecca Tester are joined by Nita Nicole Upadhye, Managing Partner of NNU Immigration , to compare the UK and US immigration systems from a business perspective. Listen to the podcast on your preferred platform: For employers, investors and internationally mobile professionals, the similarit

The Home Office has opened a major consultation on plans to overhaul the UK settlement system—proposals that could reshape long-term migration routes, employer sponsorship strategies, and the expectations of anyone currently working toward Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). These changes, set out in the policy paper   A Fairer Pathway to Settlemen t , are among the most far-reaching in years. In our latest episode of The Employment Law Podcast, our immigration partners, Alex F

The Home Office’s new A Fairer Path to Settlement  proposals could leave hundreds of thousands of migrant workers waiting far longer to settle in the UK. Constantine Law's immigration partner Alex Finch  speaking to Personnel Today , warns the plans will “require a fundamental re-engineering of the UK immigration system,” creating clear winners and losers. Alex comments: “The focus of the statement is on the contribution of the individual. But that is hard to reconcile with

CONSTANTINE LAW November 20 th ,  2025   The government has today published a statement and consultation on proposals for earned settlement.  The Immigration White Paper published in May 2025 confirmed that a consultation would be launched before the end of the year.  However, according to Alex Finch Business Immigration Partner at Constantine Law,  the accompanying statement published today is more thorough than might have been expected and represents another strong statemen

The government is legislating to remove some of the citizenship rights it granted to Chagossians in 2022.  This is illogical and unnecessary, and with the future of the Bill now uncertain, this aspect should be scrapped. This week, the government failed to put forward a committal motion in relation to the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill.  The Bill cleared its Second Reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday, but there were concerns that the g