Supreme Court delivers blow to immigration rules But legal experts last night warned the ruling could still have far reaching consequences and lead to a flood of legal challenges by those refused visas or work permits. Shahram Taghavi, deputy head of immigration at solicitors Lewis Silkin and who was involved in the Supreme Court case, said: "Today's ruling will have a profound impact upon the current corporate immigration system, and effectively represents a wholesale collapse of the legal framework for immigration policy in the UK. This decision will no doubt reverberate loudly and widely, given the sheer number of cases on related matters winding their way through the Courts at present. Mr Alvi, 34, came to the UK in 2005 as a student and was granted leave to remain to work as a physiotherapy assistant in 2005. The implementation of the new immigration points-based system in 2008 introduced new criteria for migrant workers. Mr Alvi no longer met those requirements because his job was not of a sufficient qualification and did not meet a minimum salary requirement and he was refused an extension to stay in 2009. But Mr Alvi said the decision was unlawful because Parliament had not actually scrutinised the specific Home Office-set rules relating to his occupation, a view upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday. Lord Hope, the lead justice in the case, said he recognised the judgment could create a huge workload for Parliamentarians. In an urgent written ministerial statement yesterday, Lord Henley, the Home Office minister, said: "The Supreme Court has drawn the line in a way which provides a clear and workable framework for the future but some requirements in the current Immigration Rules are not consistent with this judgment. In particular, the Visitor, Points Based System and Family rules impose some requirements on applicants by way of guidance which fall foul of the Supreme Court‟s judgment. The Government will therefore lay a Statement of Changes on 19 July coming into force on 20 July in order to safeguard their lawful operation. A Home Office spokeswoman added: "Today's judgment supports our ongoing work to simplify the immigration system and minimise legal challenge in future." But the Migration Observatory think-tank at Oxford University said it was a "potentially very significant development" that could call into question the validity of immigration rules as a whole. "This could open the government up to an enormous number of legal challenges, not only from labour migrants, but also from family migrants and others," a spokesman said