Sharp rise in rejected residency applications for Turkish nationals sparks Windrush comparisons in UK
Turkish nationals residing in the UK on European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) business visas are experiencing a sharp increase in rejected settlement applications, prompting comparisons to the Windrush scandal. While the Home Office insists its rules remain unchanged, official figures show that grants of indefinite leave to remain plummeted by 78%, falling from 3,378 in the first half of 2025 to just 745 over the same period in 2026.
The heightened refusal rate applies to filings made since September 2025, coinciding with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s speech at the Labour conference proposing stricter settlement terms. Former foreign secretary David Lammy warned that this abrupt pivot is devastating entrepreneurs who played by the rules, calling on ministers to heed the Windrush Lessons Learned review. Reflecting the friction, cases submitted for administrative review jumped from 145 in 2025 to 395 by mid-August 2026.
Lawyers report that rejection notices increasingly rely on spurious grounds—such as faulting a window cleaner for lacking social media—while ignoring compassionate factors. In one highlighted case, a mother of three was ordered to leave after seeking cancer treatment in Turkey during NHS pandemic restrictions, despite medical advice that transferring her care posed serious clinical risks.
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