Changes relating to overseas domestic workers
The Immigration Rules are amended to:
- Remove the upper age limit currently applied to those applying in the Overseas Domestic Worker in Private Household category.
- Clarify the meaning of full-time employment in the context of extension applications made in respect of those admitted in the Overseas Domestic Worker in Private Household category where they were admitted under the Rules in force prior to April 2012.
- Provide for those admitted as an overseas domestic worker to qualify for a grant of leave as a domestic worker who is the victim of slavery or human trafficking where they have been granted discretionary leave immediately following a positive conclusive grounds decision under the National Referral Mechanism.
- Amend the conditions of stay applied to a person granted leave to enter or remain as a Tier 5 (Temporary Worker) where they are a private servant in a diplomatic household.
Safe third country and first country of asylum concepts
EU law, as set out in the Procedures Directive (2005/85/EC), supports the principles and allows for applications for asylum to be treated as inadmissible where the applicant could safely be returned to a non-EU state that can be considered either a „first country of asylum‟ or a „safe third country‟. A first country of asylum is a country where an individual has refugee status or otherwise benefits from protection. A safe third country is a country to which an asylum seeker can safely and reasonably be returned on the basis of some connection to it, e.g. they have resided there.
The Rules are being clarified so it is clear that where a non-EU third country agrees to take an individual who has an association with that country and the individual will have sufficiency of protection in that third country, the UK will not consider their asylum application. There has been no change to how the Dublin Regulation is implemented but due to the changes required to implement first country of asylum and safe third country concepts Dublin Transfers are part of the new Rule. The revised policy will provide a clear framework of which concept to apply.
The current policy
The current policy allows for but does not clearly set out within the Rules what first country of asylum or safe third country concepts are. The new Rules and associated guidance will provide clear guidance of the concepts.
