It seems to have been a formal statement of change to the immigration rules laid before parliament by the Home Secretary (actually it is, or was Woolas' bag in particular) on 4th November 2008 pursuant to powers then contained in section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 (possibly now replaced by the Borders Immigration and Citizenship Act 2009, I can't summon up the energy to read that). The reference to the Forced Marriages (Civil Protection) Act 2007 in the news are misleading: obviously it is part of the same policy (it was inspired by a review post that act going through parliament, apparently) but in fact that doesn't deal with immigration, it amends the Family Law Acts to give further powers re forced marriages to the Family Division.

The original policy announcement was in June 2008 (have a google for a pdf called Marriage Visas the Way Forward dated July 2008). The rules as amended are here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyandlaw/immigrationlaw/immigrationrules/ and the particular statement of changes is the top one here: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/statementsofchanges/

In essence it's the equivalent of a statutory instrument and certainly justiciable.

It's an abysmal mess but so what's new?