Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the statement in the letter dated 1 February 2022 from her Department's MP Account Management Team to the hon. Member for East Ham that we have currently suspended the process of automatically requiring an applicant to complete 10 years on the family route, following the lifting of no recourse to public funds conditions and will instead review their situation in line with the immigration rules at their next application for Leave to Remain, what plans she has to update the online guidance to reflect that change.

We are currently reviewing the policy whereby an applicant on the family route who submits a change of conditions application and receives recourse to public funds is then required to complete 10 years on the family route in order to qualify for settlement.

Pending this review we have currently suspended the process of automatically requiring an applicant to complete 10 years on the family route following the lifting of ‘no recourse to public funds’ conditions, and will instead review their situation in line with the Immigration Rules at their next application for leave to remain.

We are considering if changes to the online guidance are required.