The hour has finally arrived. The long-awaited guidance from the home office Following the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the case of Akinsanya, has finally arrived today. Unfortunately, as expected there is not much relief for those applicants who already had leave to remain under the immigration rules.
Following the COA Judgement in Akinsanya SSHD undertook to reconsider her position under EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) for applicants relying on being a Zambrano primary carer.
Even though the Court of Appeal judgment in Akinsanya clearly stated that the Home Office’s position regarding regulation 16(7) is incorrect unfortunately COA went on to find that anyone holding leave to remain under the immigration rules will not qualify to be a Zambrano primary carer. This part of the judgement is now clearly reflected in SSHD’s published position today.
Who will qualify?
Only those applicants who met the requirements of regulation 16 during the relevant period on or before 31st December 2020 will qualify if they did not have leave to remain in the UK outside of the EU settlement scheme.
Therefore, any application that had leave to remain (unless it was under EUSS) on 31st December 2020 will unfortunately not qualify to be a Zambrano carer under EUSS.
Previously if anyone has missed the deadline of 30th June 2021, they needed to provide a valid excuse for making an application under EUSS. SSHD has extended the deadline for Zambrano carers for another six weeks until 25th July 2022.
