The Home Office changed the Immigration Rules on 8 October 2026. An important change to the ‘suitability rules’ means that your immigration history can now have a greater impact on any future immigration applications. This blog explains this change and what this could mean for people applying to enter or stay in the UK.

What are the suitability rules?

On 11 November 2025, the Home Office introduced new rules called ‘Part Suitability’. You may also hear these be called ‘suitability rules’. Part suitability explains how your behaviour, and immigration history can affect your application to enter or stay in the UK.

Part Suitability includes rules about criminal convictions, behaviour, false information, immigration history and certain unpaid debts. In some situations, the Home Office must refuse an application. In others, it may refuse an application, but does not have to.

What has changed?

The Home Office has changed what it counts as breaking immigration law. The legal term for this is a ‘breach of immigration law’. The Home Office can now use some actions, such as missing a required reporting appointment, as a reason to refuse certain applications to stay in the UK.

This change applies to applications made on or after 8 October 2026. The Home Office will use the previous rules to decide applications made before 8 October 2026. Part Suitability does not apply to most asylum claims. However, it does apply to other applications to stay in the UK, including applications based on your family or private life. 

This means some actions from your immigration history, including actions that happened while you were claiming asylum, may affect an application you make in the future.

Before 8 October 2026, breaches of immigration law already included reasons like overstaying your visa, entering the UK without permission and giving false information on an immigration application. 

From 8 October 2026, it also includes actions that “frustrate immigration controls”:

• You did not cooperate with: getting identity documents (a passport, travel document or ID card) from the authorities of the country you are from; an arrest or; a process for the Home Office to remove you from the UK.
• You used a false identity. For example, the Home Office thinks you have used a fake name, date of birth, nationality or identity document
• You did not go to a reporting appointment, or the Home Office says you absconded from immigration custody or bail. ‘Absconded’ means the Home Office believes you have stopped keeping in contact with it and it does not know where you are.
• You do something you don’t have permission to do. For example working, studying, renting or claiming benefits when you are not allowed to.
• Using more than one identity. For example, having identity documents in different names, using a fake identity, or using someone else’s identity. 
• You were involved in an immigration-related crime

These rules about breaches of immigration law apply to actions that happened when you were aged 18 or over.

What can I do?

Immigration rules change often. Something that does not affect your application now may affect an application you make in the future.

There are steps you can take now to keep a record of your immigration history and prepare for future applications. It may help to:

1. Keep your documents organised. Keep copies of letters, emails and documents from the Home Office. Keep a record of important dates, appointments and any information you send to the Home Office. If you do not understand something, ask for help from a trusted person, a local organisation or learn more by using the Toolkit. 
2. If you want to make an immigration application, you can request a copy of your file from the Home Office by making a Subject Access Request. Once you receive your file, this can help you to check if there is anything in your immigration history that might affect your application. Button: Read more about Subject Access Requests
3. Keep in contact with the Home Office. Tell the Home Office if your address or contact details change. If you cannot attend a reporting appointment, contact the Home Office as soon as possible and explain why. Keep a record of your contact with the Home Office and any evidence that explains why you could not attend. Button: Read more about what to do if you miss a reporting date 
4. Know your rights and make a safety plan. Immigration enforcement can happen at home, at work or in public. Learn about your rights and talk with people you trust about what you would do if immigration officers approached you or someone in your community. Make a safety plan together. For example, agree who you would contact, where to find important documents and who could help if someone was arrested or detained. Read more about immigration enforcement and your rights

If you receive letters, emails or documents from the Home Office, make sure that you read them. If you don’t understand them, then try to seek legal support in your community. 

If you have been asked to go to a reporting centre, or attend an appointment, and you cannot go, tell the Home Office and explain why. If you can, send any evidence that can show why you can’t go, for example medical documents to show you are unwell.