Family Visa Holders Who Had NRPF Lifted Cannot Be Forced onto the Ten-Year Route
20 Apr 2026
If you are on a Family visa (the five-year partner or spouse route to settlement) and have previously had the "no recourse to public funds" (NRPF) condition removed from your leave, the Home Office has accepted it cannot force you onto the longer ten-year route when you apply to extend.
Until now, the Home Office took the position that it had only two choices when someone on the five-year route had NRPF lifted: require them to accept the condition again on renewal, or move them to the ten-year route to settlement. Being moved to the ten-year route is a significant consequence — it roughly doubles your wait for ILR and adds thousands of pounds in additional application fees.
Following a judicial review brought by a disabled woman married to a British citizen, the Home Secretary accepted in a Consent Order on 13 March 2026 that this approach was wrong. The Home Office now accepts it has the discretion to grant an extension on the five-year route even where the NRPF condition has been lifted. Caseworkers must look at individual circumstances rather than applying a blanket policy that forces people off the five-year route. The previous guidance was also found to place disabled people at a particular disadvantage without proper equality assessment.
The Home Office is required to revise its caseworker guidance on this point by September 2026. If you are on the five-year family route, have previously had NRPF lifted (for example due to a disability or serious financial hardship), and are approaching your next extension, you may wish to speak to a regulated immigration adviser about whether this updated position applies to your situation and how to present your application.
Sources: