Firstly, in regard to completing a UK immigration form, for practical level, experiences-based need to know guidance, please visit Completing a form — http://needtoknow-immigrationuk.com/completing-a-form/
Visa, Leave to Remain, and Asylum applications, which are made through the related forms, are indisputably the first major ‘frontline’ of Hostile Environment implementation in both overseas and UK contexts: those completing such application forms should be particularly aware of this. The Forms contain multiple areas where lack of clarity on how and what to answer, provide UKVI caseworkers and ECOs ‘on the basis of the Rules’ pretexts for refusing solid applications by genuine applicants.
Taking and retaining, in the main, pre-existing forms, formats used before the onset of the Hostile Environment by largely maintaining in the Hostile Environment implementation age, maintaining the formats and much of the entry sections details of these forms, was clearly realised by the strategic level architects (chief operating officers) at both planning and their upper Whitehall echelons political backing levels of the Hostile Environment in Whitehall, as essential.
Keeping continuity on clarity of these forms ‘structures’ was tactically absolutely necessary to, it can more than reasonably be argued, to enable the actual detailed level substance of those forms to be adjusted, adjusted again, and readjusted to enable ‘not in front view’ (‘Back Door’ routes as noted by amongst many a High Court judge) Hostile Environment implementation.
In regard to the latter, the guiding principle had in this context been – and remains — to minimise clarity maximise confusion/lack of clarity, and thereby substantially increase the opportunities for completed forms by the maximum numbers of genuine applicants, to provide responses that can be used as pretexts to refuse the applications by the UKVI overseas and the UKVI in the UK.
Not accidentally created maximum obscurity / wont of clarity and transparency have been crucial to achieve this result. It has been estimated that some 45,000 changes to ‘the Rules’ — https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/nov/28/hostile-environment-the-hardline-home-office-policy-tearing-families-apart — have been made since the onset of the Hostile Environment.
The Whitehall, Home Office tranche of Hostile Environment implementing immigration & related services, agencies, led on these abnormal amount of changes –that directly impacted at detailed level to UKVI forms different item-by-item aspects — to the Rules.
The manner of ‘presentation/not consultation’ with Parliament regarding the latter, was and remains controversial, as the unelected civil servants drafting them have continued to be regularly censured by Parliament, and indeed the Supreme Court for not consulting Parliament, for ‘back door’ routes changes to the ‘Rules.’ Please see https://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/jul/18/supreme-court-immigration-rules ‘Supreme court strikes down Home Office’s back-door changes to immigration rules.’
The complexities caused by multiple points of lack of clarity on the UKVI forms, were from the outset and remain, the main basis on which visas, LTR, and asylum applications and requests of genuine thoroughly evidenced kinds are refused – with those refused being passed to the UKVI’s de-facto sister-system of immigration appeals process, the Immigration Tribunal.
Also, of related interest …
The UKVI / Home Office and (for outside the UK) the FCO that are the conduits for the UKVI services, increasingly state, in as many words, if you are not clear about how to complete their forms, it could be helpful to ask for the guidance of an authorised (Home Office recognised) ‘immigration advisor.’ This of course involves fees, often considerable ones – the UKVI in the UK and overseas provide minimal phone helpline support (this is Not accidental but considering visa and LTR applications can be highly costly in many cases, should be funded out of the fee paid to make an application).
On a related Hostile Environment jobs generation front, the Hostile Environment implementation has been a huge boost to wealth generation for solicitors, law firms, barristers (and ultimately not a few judges) and officially approved ‘immigration advisors’ operating in this sector (please visit the relevant pages of this website). Immigration forms that lack clarity in many areas and key levels, are perhaps the biggest source of that wealth generation before/outside, or inside the Immigration Tribunal settings.