A Grandparent Born in the UK Is Half of It; the Other Half Is a Commonwealth Passport
UK Ancestry is the most-asked British route and the most commonly misdescribed. It is not a route for anyone with a British grandparent. Appendix UK Ancestry opens two gates and a person has to pass both: UKA 1.3 requires the applicant to be a Commonwealth citizen, and UKA 4.1 requires a grandparent born in the UK or Islands. A citizen of the United States, Brazil or any European state with a Birmingham-born grandmother is outside the route at the first gate and nothing in the Appendix lets them in. A third condition is as easily missed: UKA 6.1 requires the applicant to be able to work and to intend to seek and take employment in the UK, so this is a labour-market route and not a retirement one. What it gives is unusually generous: five years' permission with unrestricted work and self-employment, no sponsor, no job offer, no salary threshold, and settlement at the end of the five years.
At a glance
- Who the route is open to
- Commonwealth citizens only
UKA 1.3 of Appendix UK Ancestry. A grandparent born in the UK does nothing for a national of a non-Commonwealth state on this route.
- What "Commonwealth citizen" means in the Rules
- A British Overseas Territories citizen, British National (Overseas), British Overseas citizen or British subject, or a citizen of a country listed in Schedule 3 to the British Nationality Act 1981
Definition in the Immigration Rules introduction. It is a defined term, not the ordinary meaning of the word.
- Which grandparent counts
- One born in the UK, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, or - before 31 March 1922 - in Ireland
Definition of "Born in the UK or Islands" in the Immigration Rules introduction, which also covers birth on a British-owned or registered ship or aircraft.
- Length of the first grant
- 5 years
UKA 9.1 of Appendix UK Ancestry.
- Qualifying period for settlement
- 5 years in the UK with permission on the UK Ancestry route
UKA 13.1, with the continuous residence requirement of Appendix Continuous Residence applying across the period under UKA 14.1.
- Minimum age to apply for entry clearance
- 17 or over on the date of intended arrival in the UK
UKA 1.4.
- English language at the settlement stage
- CEFR B1 in speaking and listening for an application before 26 March 2027, and B2 for an application on or after that date
UKA 15.1(a) and (b). The rise to B2 is already written into the Rules with a future date.
- Sponsor, job offer or salary threshold
- None required by Appendix UK Ancestry, which imposes only the work intention at UKA 6.1
Read against Appendix Skilled Worker, where a sponsor and a salary floor are both conditions of the grant.
- A minimum amount of money
- No figure is stated: UKA 5.1 requires the decision maker to be satisfied the applicant can adequately maintain and accommodate themselves
UKA 5.2 refers to Appendix Finance, and Appendix UK Ancestry is in the list of routes at the head of that appendix. Appendix Finance governs how funds are evidenced; no sum for this route was found in the part of it read.
Requirements
- Commonwealth citizenship
- A grandparent born in the UK or Islands
- Aged 17 or over on the date of intended arrival, if applying for entry clearance
- Ability to work and an intention to seek and take employment in the UK
- Enough money to maintain and accommodate yourself and any dependants without public funds
- Entry clearance obtained before arrival
In detail
What this route is not
It is not a descent route to citizenship. A person with UK Ancestry is given permission to be in the UK, not British nationality, and they reach citizenship the ordinary way - five years to settlement under UKA 13.1, then naturalisation under section 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981. It is not open on ancestry alone: UKA 1.3 makes Commonwealth citizenship a validity requirement, so an application from a non-Commonwealth citizen can be rejected without ever being considered on its merits. It does not reach a great-grandparent, and the Appendix contains no provision for one. And it is not a retirement route: UKA 6.1 requires an intention to seek and take employment, and UKA 12.1 makes that requirement continue to apply at the settlement stage five years later.
The Irish exception inside a British rule
The definition of "Born in the UK or Islands" includes birth in Ireland before 31 March 1922, which is the date the Irish Free State came into being. A grandparent born in Cork in 1920 was born in the United Kingdom, and the Rules still say so more than a century later. The practical reach of this is narrower than it looks - a grandparent born before 31 March 1922 would be well over a hundred today, so the people who can use it are the grandchildren of a generation now almost entirely gone - but it is the kind of provision that outlives its own occasion, and it is still there.
Against the Irish counterpart
Ireland reaches the grandchild of an Irish-born grandparent too, and it does something quite different with them. Section 7(3) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 makes registration in the foreign births register produce Irish citizenship, with no residence, no work and no five-year wait. The United Kingdom gives permission to stay for five years conditional on seeking work, and citizenship only after settlement and naturalisation. One country hands over a passport to someone who has never been there; the other hands over a work permit.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«The UK Ancestry route is for a Commonwealth citizen aged 17 or over who wants to live and work in the UK and who has a grandparent who was born in the UK or Islands. A dependent partner and dependent children can apply under this route. UK Ancestry is a route to settlement.»Both conditions are in the first sentence, and the Commonwealth one comes first.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
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«UKA 1.3. The applicant must be a Commonwealth citizen. UKA 1.4. If applying for entry clearance, the applicant must be aged 17 or over on the date of their intended arrival in the UK.»These are validity requirements, so an application that fails them may be rejected as invalid under UKA 1.6 rather than refused.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«UKA 4.1. The applicant must have a grandparent born in the UK or Islands.»The entire ancestry requirement is this one sentence. It says grandparent, and the Appendix contains no equivalent for a great-grandparent.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
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«UKA 6.1. The applicant must be able to work and intend to seek and take employment in the UK.»The condition that makes this a work route. It is tested at the settlement stage too, because UKA 12.1 requires the applicant to continue to meet UKA 4.1 to UKA 6.1.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«UKA 5.1. The decision maker must be satisfied that the applicant can and will adequately maintain and accommodate themselves, and any dependants in the UK, or applying for entry clearance, without recourse to public funds.»No figure. UKA 5.3 allows credible promises of financial support from a third party such as a relative or friend to be taken into account, which is unusual among the work routes.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«UKA 9.1. The applicant will be granted permission for 5 years.»The conditions of grant at UKA 9.2 are no public funds, work permitted including self-employment, voluntary work permitted, and study permitted subject to Appendix ATAS.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«UKA 13.1. The applicant must have spent 5 years in the UK with permission on the UK Ancestry route as a person with UK Ancestry.»Time on another route does not count towards this qualifying period, which is why switching into UK Ancestry restarts the clock.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«UKA 15.1. Unless an exemption applies, the applicant must: 1. (a) Where the date of application is before 26 March 2027, the applicant must, unless an exemption applies, show English language ability on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in speaking and listening to at least level B1; or 2. (b) Where the date of application is on or after 26 March 2027, the applicant must, unless an exemption applies, show English language ability on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages in speaking and listening to at least level B2.»A rise in the requirement already written into the Rules with a date in the future. The numbering inside the quotation is the list markup of the published page.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«“Born in the UK or Islands”in Appendix UK Ancestry means born: 1. (a) in the UK; or 2. (b) in the Channel Islands (Bailiwick of Guernsey, Bailiwick of Jersey); or 3. (c) in the Isle of Man; or 4. (d) before 31 March 1922, in Ireland; or 5. (e) on a British-owned or registered ship or aircraft if the requirements of either section 50(7)(a) of the British Nationality Act 1981, or section 32(5) of the British Nationality Act 1948, as applicable, are met.»Sub-paragraph (d) is the one nobody expects: a grandparent born anywhere on the island of Ireland before 31 March 1922 was born in the UK for this purpose. The missing space after the closing quotation mark is the publisher's.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«“Commonwealth citizen”means: 1. (a) a British Overseas Territories citizen, a British National (Overseas), a British Overseas citizen or a British subject; or 2. (b) a citizen of a country listed in Schedule 3 to the British Nationality Act 1981.»Schedule 3 to the 1981 Act is the operative list. A country that has left the Commonwealth is not removed from Schedule 3 by leaving: the Schedule is amended by order.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The claim that no great-grandparent provision exists is based on reading the whole of Appendix UK Ancestry as published on 10 October 2026 and the definition of "Born in the UK or Islands" in the Immigration Rules introduction. It is not a claim about the rest of the Rules.
Appendix Finance lists Appendix UK Ancestry among the routes it governs, but the part of Appendix Finance read for this record covers currency conversion and the financial institutions whose evidence is accepted, not a sum of money for this route. No figure for the UK Ancestry maintenance requirement is published here because none was read.
Dependants apply under UKA 18 onwards and the dependent partner or child of a person who has already settled or become British can still apply, provided that person held UK Ancestry permission when they settled - UKA 18.2(d)(iii).
Appendix UK Ancestry on gov.uk carries no version date. The Home Office's statement of changes collection listed HC 584 of 3 September 2026 as the most recent when this was read.
- issuesImmigration Rules Appendix UK Ancestry
Home Office (UK Visas and Immigration)
About this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- issuesImmigration Rules: introduction
Home Office (UK Visas and Immigration)
About this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
- issuesImmigration Rules Appendix Finance
Home Office (UK Visas and Immigration)
About this source
The department that lays the Immigration Rules before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 and publishes them on gov.uk. The Rules - HC 395 as amended - are the operative law of almost every immigration route: the Acts set the framework and delegate, and what a person must actually satisfy is in an appendix. The consolidated appendices are served one per page under gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules, with an index page listing every Part and Appendix with a one-line description of each, which is the only published closed list of the routes that exist. Changes are made by a statement of changes laid before Parliament, and those are collected at gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: No appendix page carries a version date or an in-force date on its face. The only way to date the text is the statement of changes collection, which gives the most recent statement laid but not which appendix it touched, so a citation to an appendix can be dated only to "the consolidation current at or after HC <n> of <date>". The Rules are not enacted: Parliament may disapprove a statement but does not pass it, so this is a department publishing its own rules and the site is both the issuer and the only publisher of the consolidated text - there is no independent consolidation to check it against. A closed route is hollowed rather than removed: the headings for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (General) and retired persons of independent means still stand above paragraphs reading DELETED, so the presence of a heading proves nothing. It is not a source for departmental guidance, for fees, for sponsor licensing decisions or for the lists of endorsing bodies, approved tests and designated institutions that the Rules make load-bearing and publish elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source