Britain's immigration rules in force since November 2008 were rushed to the House of Lords after the Supreme Court ruled in a major judgement that they were illegal because they had never been before Parliament.

The Home Office was forced to take emergency action after judges upheld a complaint by a Pakistan national, who had been refused further leave to remain in the UK, that the list of skilled occupations used under the points-based system had not been scrutinised by Parliament.
It was not clear if applications refused under the rules that were not scrutinised could appeal against the decisions.
Placing before the House of Lords over 70 'Statement of Changes to Immigration Rules' since 2003, the Home Office said the changes came into effect from Friday and would not affect how they considered applications.