24 April

On 20 April, the Immigration Law Practitioner’s Association (ILPA) submitted a response to the Home Affairs Select Committee’s inquiry into the Home Office’s preparedness for and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sophie-Barrett Brown, Zeena Luchowa and Nicolette Bostock were pleased to contribute to this response on behalf of Laura Devine Immigration (LDI) and our clients.

Whilst the Home Office’s actions and widening of policy in some areas are commended by ILPA, ILPA’s response highlights various issues which were raised by LDI very early on in the COVID-19 crisis and are still waiting an official response from the Home Office.

ILPA’s view is the Home Office’s response has been asynchronous with real-time changes implemented by the government in relation to tax, employment and public health, closure of travel routes, and closure of UK and overseas biometric enrolment centres run by the Home Office’s partners. ILPA’s written submission notes the extent of this delay and the remaining gaps in policy and systems to address the core issues, also a primary concern for LDI and our clients.

In addition, whilst welcome, the channels used by the Home Office to disseminate information could be further developed and aligned. Currently, these include:

• the Home Office’s official Coronavirus web pages, where policy changes are announced and a brief summary of changes are provided;
• a Coronavirus Immigration Helpline email contact service, which has seen high volumes of queries and leave extension and switching requests to the extent that (at the time of writing) enquirers may only expect to receive automated replies; and
• fact sheets, which include some detail on new policies and procedures being implemented as part of the Home Office’s COVID-19 response; however these are sent directly to specific stakeholders by email and are not accessible to the public.

We are hopeful that, focused by the inquiry rather than distracted by it, the Home Office will recover quickly to implement practical and policy solutions to address the issues which are still outstanding, and continue to develop and publish detailed information on its website as a priority.

The full response can be found on ILPA’s website.  LDI will continue to work with other members of ILPA to obtain urgent clarification on all COVID-19 UK immigration issues. Please monitor our COVID-19 UK and US immigration FAQs for regular updates.