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Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

The amendment provides that an application lodged before the commencement of Part 2 would be dealt with under the law as it stands today. It also provides us with a very useful opportunity to ask the Government on their intentions regarding people with limited leave to remain at that point. Those people will have planned their future lives on the basis of current legislation, which allows them to apply for indefinite leave to remain at the end of their period on temporary leave. If there are no fair transitional arrangements, they will be obliged to apply for probationary citizenship leave, extending the time that they have to spend on temporary leave and persuading many to defer the major life commitments that people undertake, such as starting a family or buying a house, and thus delaying the integration that is claimed to be one of the Government’s main objectives. I refer to a High Court case heard last year, dealing with changes to the scheme known as the highly skilled migrant programme, in which Judge Sir George Newman referred to the adoption of legitimate expectations. He said in conclusion that he was, ""satisfied that the terms of the original scheme should be honoured and that there is no good reason why those already on the scheme shall not enjoy the benefits of it as originally offered to them"." That was the case involving HSMP Forum Ltd. If the Minister needs to look it up, its neutral citation number is 2008 EWHC 664. That judgment seems to me highly relevant to the amendment moved by the noble Baroness because the High Court found that the legitimate expectations of these highly skilled migrants under the previous scheme should have been honoured. As I understand it, the amendment would ensure that people who have entered with legitimate expectations should not be denied the privilege of remaining in that course of action.