Alex Piletska on a case with implications for British or settled parents

19 January 2026

Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law Senior Associate Alex Piletska has written an article on a case with major implications – at least until it may be challenged – for families with one British or settled parent in the UK. Alex has reported on an important Court of Appeal ruling on children’s settlement applications for immigration practitioners’ resource Free Movement.

The case concerns a settlement application made on behalf of a child under paragraph 297 of Part 8 of the UK’s Immigration Rules which was instead granted as limited leave under the Rules’ Appendix FM because although her father was a British citizen resident in the UK, her mother only had limited leave.

The Court of Appeal in R (Kone) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1653 held that it was not open to the Home Office to decide the application under Appendix FM, finding that the applicant was not excluded from para 297 just because one of her parents had limited leave.

“The decision is potentially more consequential than it might appear at first glance,” writes Alex Piletska. This could mean a quicker route to settlement for children with a British or settled parent in the UK, at the very least until this is challenged by the Home Office in the Supreme Court.

Anyone who may benefit may want to seek legal advice.

At present, child dependants apply for limited leave, in line with their non-settled parent, and do not settle until they do, which takes five years at a minimum and sometimes longer. “However, following this decision, where the British/settled sponsor is the child’s parent, it may be possible to apply for settlement for the child immediately under para 297(i)(f) instead of spending many years and many thousands of pounds on extension applications,” explains Alex Piletska.

Alex Piletska is a Senior Associate at Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law. She specialises in a wide range of private immigration, including complex human rights cases, skilled migration and everything in between. She has a particular interest in complex citizenship and nationality cases, vanishingly tricky Adult Dependent Relative applications, Judicial Review and technical procedural issues like validity and variations. Alex often writes and comments on UK immigration issues in the media. 

Photograph (c) Samuel Regan Asante / Unsplash