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Private Life Claims

The private life route is currently integrated within the Immigration rules. The relevant paragraphs of the Immigration rules for the consideration of Article 8 claims include paragraph 276ADE to decide the private life factor of an Article 8 claim and Appendix FM to decide the family life of an Article 8 claim.

Eligibility for leave on Private Life grounds
In order to make a private life claim within the Immgiration rules, the applicants must satisfy one of the below requirements.
  • Lived in the UK continuously for 20 years (discounting any period of imprisonment)
  • Under the age of 18 and have lived in the UK continuously for 7 years and it would be unreasonable to expect the person to leave the UK
  • Aged between 18 and 24 and lived in the UK continuously for at least half of that life (discounting any period of imprisonment)
  • Aged 18 or over, have spent less than 20 years (discounting any period of imprisonment) in the UK and would have very significant obstacles to integrate into the country required to go from the UK
In addition to this, it is also essential for applicants to meet the suitability requirements designed to meet public interest and legitimate aims and includes Criminal convictions, failure to pay litigation costs and NHS Debts. THe private life application can be made by anyone; whether they have valid leave to remain or an overstayer. It is also worth noting that there is no English Language proficiency or minimum income requirement. The merits of each application are considered on an individual basis and depth of integration to the UK will always be a key factor. An application can also be made on the basis of family life if the applicant has a parental relationship with a child who is settled in the UK or is British, or the applicant has a genuine and subsisting relationship with a UK partner and there are insurmountable obstacles to family life with that partner continuing outside the UK. Any leave granted under the Private life route, the applicant must spend 120 months under that route to obtain settlement. It is also possible to make a leave to remain application for other purposes not covered by any application forms under FLR (HRO).
How can we assist?
Our Immigration lawyers at City Legal have immense experience in assisting clients on human rights, family and private life visa applications. We can undertake a detailed assessment of the applicant’s circumstances and identify if the refusal would breach any human rights and prepare necessary legal submissions on that basis and in accordance with up-to-date case laws . We are a multi award winning law firm and pride ourselves in being approachable, innovative and always going that extra mile to make sure our clients receive the individual attention they deserve. Our Immigration team maintains a high reputation and is committed to provide clear, transparent and reliable advice to our clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Human Rights applications normally carry a right of appeal unless the Home Office certifies the claim as clearly unfounded. It is possible to challenge this certification by the form of a Judicial Review.
This would purely be based on an applicant’s individual circumstances; for example if an individual does not speak the language and could not learn it, it may be deemed as difficult to integrate in the country of return.
The applicant will be granted leave to remain for a period of 30 months, but renewable. There is usually a no recourse to public funds condition attached to a grant of leave to remain. Applicants can only apply for settlement after completing 10 years under this leave.
The 14 year rule on long residence has been replaced with the 20 year residency rules since 2012. Individuals may apply after 14 years if there are other human rights reasons that warrants a leave, but are not included as automatic grant within immigrtion rules.

There are provisions within the Immigration rules under Appendix FM for single parents to apply under parent route. There is no specific provision within the Immigration rules to grant leave to the parents of a child who spent 7 years in the UK,  where neither of the parents have status and the parents are still together. However, depending on the circumstances, it may be appropriate for the parents to apply for leave outside the rules. In most cases, if the child is deemed qualified for the leave, the family is granted leave in line with that under private life route.

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