Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law

24/04/2026

🌼 It’s Spring: time for Snowdrops, Bluebells, bare legs and a swathe of UK immigration changes for personnel teams to grapple with, writes Vanessa Ganguin ...

Latest UK immigration and sponsorship changes companies need to know about

15/04/2026

👀 Vanessa Ganguin's latest article in HR magazine warns of a major change for employers with sponsor licences. They must check that any worker they engage – whether sponsored or not – has the right to work. This now includes all those they “directly engage” as well as employees.

This is a significant development and we have written asking for more clarity. In the meantime, Vanessa warns: "Most will not have been carrying out right to work checks on self-employed workers and will be unaware of their status as it has not been a requirement.

"The wording of the new sponsorship guidance suggests sponsors should now check the status of all self-employed, zero-hour and other directly engaged contractors to protect against the loss of their licence to sponsor workers.

"Sponsors may want to take legal advice on how best to protect themselves in the light of this new guidance."

You can read the full article which covers this and other changes for sponsoring employers here:

Sponsors should now check the status of all self-employed, zero-hour and other directly engaged contractors to protect against the loss of their licence to sponsor workers.

08/04/2026

👀 All the Spring 2026 UK immigration, visa application and nationality fees increases. 👇

🌐 If the UK didn’t already have the most expensive immigration system in the world, it may well do after 8 April 2026.

🇬🇧 Key UK immigration costs from 8 April 2026:

Visitor visa (up to 6 months): £135 (up from £127)
Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA): £20 (up from £16)
Student visa: £558 (up from £524)
Skilled Worker visa (up to 3 years): £943 (up from £885)
Spouses, partners, children applying for family visas: £2,064 (up from £1,938)
Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement): £3,226 (up from £3,029)
Naturalisation (Citizenship): £1,709 (up from £1,605)

🙏 The one bit of good-ish news is that after much campaigning, child citizenship registration fees fall – but only by around a fifth from £1,214 to £1,000.

🥶 Though sponsor licence application fees increase, sponsors escape higher fees as certificates of sponsorship are frozen...

The Home Office has confirmed new immigration, nationality and passport fee increases from 8 April 2026

31/03/2026

Vanessa Ganguin explains the consequences of extending mandatory visa refusals and revocations for 12 month custodial sentences to suspended sentences in Solicitors Journal.

While framed as a crackdown on criminality, the UK's latest changes to the Immigration Rules will separate families, undermine the principle of rehabilitation and impose disproportionate consequences for relatively minor offences.

Managing Partner Vanessa writes about a barely reported yet draconian new immigration measure that means from 26 March 2026, anyone who has received a suspended sentence of at least 12 months – either in the UK or abroad – faces the prospect of a lifetime UK visa ban, regardless of how long ago the crime took place.

https://vanessaganguin.com/news/suspended-sentences-and-automatic-exclusion-vanessas-article-on-the-uks-tougher-immigration-rules/

26/03/2026

In an alarming development, from today, anyone who has received a suspended sentence of at least 12 months – either at home or abroad – will have their UK visa refused or revoked, regardless of when the crime took place.

"By removing provisions that previously excluded suspended sentences from counting as a period of imprisonment for the Home Office definition of a “foreign national offender”, anyone with a suspended sentence of a year or longer is now automatically liable for deportation, which is a framework for excluding people from the UK, often forcefully, that is significantly more draconian than the threat of mere administrative removal," writes Vanessa Ganguin.

This is in line with the Sentencing Act 2026 amending the UK Borders Act 2007 and the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 by removing provisions that previously excluded suspended sentences from counting as a period of imprisonment for the purposes of defining a foreign criminal.

From 26 March 2026, anyone who has received a suspended sentence of at least 12 months – either at home or abroad – will have any UK visa refused or revoked, regardless of how long ago the crime took place.

25/02/2026

🛬 What is the UK's , who needs one to visit and how are dual-nationals affected? - we answer these and more questions as the Electronic Travel Authorisation comes into force on Wednesday:

From 25 February 2026 non-visa UK visitors will need to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation for visiting Britain. Latest details.

04/02/2026

📣Deadline approaches to respond to UK’s settlement consultation, Vanessa Ganguin writes in Startups Magazine.

"You have until 12th February to respond to the 'earned settlement' consultation which everyone is invited to, both as an individual and as an organisation. For employers, workers, and their families, this isn’t a niche immigration issue. These are radical reforms.

"Proposals may directly impact recruitment, retention, employment costs, and the viability of building a career and a life in the UK. You will probably know someone whose path to secure settlement in Britain would be impacted. You may have immigrant employees you are sponsoring who may be affected, or this may impact your ability to attract the best international talent to join your growing firm..."

You can read Vanessa's article here, and it contains a link to respond to the open public consultation. Please do participate if you can and share with anyone who may be interested:

You have until 12th February to respond to the “earned settlement” consultation which everyone is invited to, both as an individual and as an organisation

08/01/2026

🇬🇧 From 8 January there are higher English language requirements for many work visa applicants, with more planned. These are the UK immigration changes that applicants and their employers will need to be aware of:

Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law's Ross Kennedy explains the 2026 changes to UK immigration rules on English language requirements

20/11/2025

📢We have analysed the Home Secretary's latest announcements on upcoming changes to ILR (settlement) in the UK, who qualifies and how long that is likely to now take.

This is a summary of what we now know about the changes and how you can respond anonymously to the consultations about how they will be implemented:
https://vanessaganguin.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-uks-earned-settlement-ilr-changes-and-consultation/

📲 Feel free to contact us if you are concerned about these major reforms to Indefinite Leave to Remain.

Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law's Alex Piletska explains Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's proposals for increasing the path to UK settlement (ILR)

30/10/2025

🚨 Call for employers to respond to a consultation on extending the right to work checks that currently apply to employees to gig economy / zero-hour more casual workers. This is part of government measures to clamp down to illegal working. Full details:

What the right to work scheme extension consultation involves and what employers can do.