Barely reported yet draconian new UK immigration measures mean that anyone who has received a suspended sentence of at least 12 months – either in the UK or abroad now faces having their UK visa refused or revoked, regardless of how long ago the sentence was handed down.
The changes to Part Suitability of the Immigration Rules – the framework in the UK Immigration Rules for refusing and cancelling people’s permission to be in the UK or settle – are in line with the Sentencing Act 2026 which removes provisions that previously excluded suspended sentences from counting as a period of imprisonment for the purposes of defining a foreign national offender. A sentence of a year, whether suspended or not, would mean automatic liability for deportation – a framework for excluding people from the UK that is significantly more draconian than the threat of mere administrative removal.
These changes affect those not yet settled in the UK and follow last November’s amendment of Part Suitability of the UK Immigration Rules, which considerably tightened them for applications by family members such as children, parents, spouses and partners. We wrote about this development in more detail here.
Previously, someone sentenced to between 12 months and four years for a criminal offence was generally able to join their family in the UK as long as 10 years have passed since. Since November any conviction with a prison sentence of 12 months or more will now attract a mandatory refusal for those wishing to join loved ones in the UK, no matter where in the world the offence occurred or how much time has passed since the end of their sentence.
There will be exceptions where a conviction abroad is for something that would not be criminalised in the UK – for example – a criminal sentence for homosexuality or membership of a trade union. In those cases, the convictions can be disregarded, though this may not be as helpful as it may appear — these types of convictions by despotic regimes very rarely state the actual reason for the conviction on its face, so a conviction for homosexuality may be presented as a conviction for “obscenity and public disorder” or something equally misleadingly dramatic.
There may also be scope for exceptions to be made in cases for some applicants, such as those who aren’t subject to a deportation order or classed as persistent offenders, if they have a very strong Article 8 private or family life argument. However at present we have little indication of how such cases would be treated by the Home Office or, more likely, a judge on appeal. Such cases would be wholly outside the Immigration Rules and would invariably be very complex, expensive, with uncertain prospects. The UK Government has also hinted that it wants to make further changes to how judges decide Article 8 cases and seem keen to limit judicial independence in this area.
Now from March 2026, even if an offence only warranted a suspended sentence, this would still mean a lifetime ban from the UK. There are also no transitional provisions to protect those already investing in lives in the UK in good faith.
You can read more about these changes here.
The backdrop to this change is a major overhaul of the current, relatively predictable five‑year route to settlement in the UK.
Among the proposals is a suggestion by the Home Secretary that those who endeavour to settle here will have to possess a “clean criminal record”. We do not yet know what this will mean in practice.
New suitability rules for spouse visas and other family applications
What we know about the UK’s ‘earned settlement’ ILR changes and consultation