Policy paper

Immigration and Asylum Bill: Article 8 reform

Published 8 October 2026

What are we doing?

Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to family and private life. We are changing how Article 8 is applied in the UK immigration system to restore public confidence and ensure that the UK application of rights is in line with the Strasbourg court.

The application of Article 8 will be tightened to prevent misuse of the system and ensure that the public interest in maintaining effective immigration control carries proper weight in immigration decisions.

The reforms will put more emphasis on compliance with our rules and contribution to our economy and to our society.

Why are we legislating?

We remain committed to the ECHR and do not have to withdraw from it to meaningfully reform our current system and processes. However, we do believe the way the ECHR is implemented must evolve to reflect modern challenges, particularly mass migration.

We are undertaking a fundamental reset of the balance between individual Article 8 rights and the public interest to place a much greater emphasis on complying with our Immigration Rules. 

Article 8 rights are currently leading to high numbers of people, who would not otherwise have the right to live in the UK, being able to come or stay here. Article 8 rights are also being used to stop the removal of individuals that are living here illegally. This is impacting our ability to enforce the Immigration Rules and maintain effective migration control.

How will the bill achieve this?

The bill will reform the application of Article 8 claims in three ways. It will:

• strengthen and rebalance the public interest test to ensure issues that are central to the public interest, such as maintaining effective immigration control and promoting economic prosperity, are considered
• define family life in legislation for the purposes of Article 8 by clarifying to decision makers and the courts that family life under Article 8 should not normally extend beyond immediate family members
• require Article 8 family life claims from those outside of the UK to be made by a UK-based sponsor, to ensure decision making focuses primarily on the UK-based sponsor for whom the UK has Jurisdiction

The impact of the reforms on children and those who are more vulnerable has been carefully considered. While the reforms are designed to ensure consistency in decision making, there are specific safeguards for particularly exceptional circumstances. 

Key statistics

• The Home Office estimates that each main applicant granted on the basis of Article 8 presents a net lifetime fiscal cost to the taxpayer of £141,000 per person (this cost when applied to the cohort of main applicants granted on the basis of Article 8 in 2025 is estimated at £4.9 billion). ^{[footnote 1]}
• Based on published Home Office statistics for the year 2025, we estimate that annual in-country grant volumes for Article 8 family and private ^{[footnote 2]} life applications are around 76,500. ^{[footnote 3]}
• A representative sample of Home Office decisions made on first-time in-country family and private life grants in 2022 showed:
  • 71% of grants were made to applicants who were illegal entrants or overstayers, indicating the scale of individuals circumventing the immigration system and border controls ^{[footnote 4]}
  • 67% of grants were made to applicants with a qualifying child, indicating the extent to which children are relied upon to establish a basis to remain in the UK. ^{[footnote 5]}
• Article 8 rights are also being used to stop removal of those who are living here illegally.

Footnotes

1. Impact Assessment ↩

2. Impact Assessment ↩

3. Why do people come to the UK? ↩

4. Impact Assessment - Cohort analysis of grants made on the basis of Article 8 ↩

5. Impact Assessment - Cohort analysis of grants made on the basis of Article 8 ↩