This blog explains why Asylum Aid continues to believe that the Home Office’s interpretation of the Safety of Rwanda Act as excluding consideration of “onward removal” (where someone is removed from Rwanda) claims is wrong and that this guidance is therefore unlawful. We believe that properly interpreted, the Act permits...
Closing date: 16 June 2024 Salary: £51,100 – 58,000 gross per annum at 1.0 FTE, or pro rata equivalent if part-time. Working pattern: 1.0 FTE (37.5 hrs per week), or 0.9 or 0.8 FTE. Flexible working requests will be considered. Contract: permanent with a 6 month probationary period Team: UK...
The latest modern slavery statistics have been published and show that the ‘immigration enforcement competent authority’ had made its lowest percentage of positive conclusive grounds decisions confirming that a person is recognised as a victim of trafficking since it was set up, with a recognition rate of 20.68% for the...
On Monday the Home Office updated the guidance documents relating to removals to Rwanda and retroactively amended the Rwanda agreement to include the possibility of sending failed asylum seekers there. This was done via a letter from the British High Commissioner in Rwanda to Rwanda’s Permanent Secretary Ministry of Foreign...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! It looks like the government has lost in the High Court in Northern Ireland this morning (Ed: remember the newsletter goes out by email on Mondays – sign up below!), in a challenge to the Illegal Migration Act brought by the Northern Ireland...
The Migration Advisory Committee has today published its “rapid review” of the Graduate route, concluding that the route is not being abused and should remain in place in its current form. The letter from the Chair states: We have not found evidence of widespread abuse on the Graduate route, where...
Following a legal challenge, the small group of Sri Lankan people seeking asylum in Diego Garcia have been granted bail so that they are able to access more of the island beyond the tiny encampment they were kept in previously. We have previously published a post providing the historical context...
The High Court in Northern Ireland has held that the Illegal Migration Act 2023 breaches the Windsor Framework, put in place to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland, and ordered the disapplication of provisions of the Act in Northern Ireland. The court also declared certain provisions of...
In the April roundup Colin and Sonia cover the new Rwanda Act and the process for sending a person to Rwanda, challenges to the use of the inadmissibility process, the government’s response to the increase in arrivals of Vietnamese nationals and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report...
CLOSING DATE: 31 MAY 2024 Rainbow Migration, the longest-running charity in Europe dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system, is recruiting a Legal Officer to advise and help improve the representation of LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum, and help change the asylum and immigration system to one...
Our monthly update course is available to Free Movement members. It is based on the articles we’ve published over the last month and on our immigration law update podcast. If you are not already a member, you can join here and access not just this course but all of our...
In the April roundup Colin and Sonia cover the new Rwanda Act and the process for sending a person to Rwanda, challenges to the use of the inadmissibility process, the government’s response to the increase in arrivals of Vietnamese nationals and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report...
The immigration rules allow some people to apply to remain in the UK on the basis of long residence. Those who had periods of overstaying can apply for limited leave to remain following 20 years’ continuous residence. We have a separate briefing on applying for indefinite leave to remain for...
Appendix Long Residence of the immigration rules enables a person with 10 continuous and lawful years of residence in the UK to apply for indefinite leave to remain. It is also possible to apply for limited leave to remain in this route. But there are complications and qualifications. Page contentsWhat...
Closing date: Sunday 26th May at 11.59 pm Salary: £34,650 – £42,500 gross per annum at 1.0 FTE Working pattern: 1.0 FTE (37.5 hrs per week), or 0.9 or 0.8 FTE. Flexible working requests will be considered. Contract: 1 x permanent with a 6 months probationary period and 2 x...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The first hearing has been listed in the next round of the Rwanda litigation. On Friday, Mr Justice Chamberlain ordered a rolled up hearing to take place within the window of 4 to 7 June with a time estimate of one day. This is the challenge...
On 18 April 2024, the Court of Appeal held in ASY & Ors v Home Office [2024] EWCA Civ 373 that damages are payable to those subjected to destitution that amounts to an imminent risk of inhuman or degrading treatment. The Court of Appeal judgment recognised the existence of a...
The Home Office is proposing to change the Adults at Risk guidance in a way that will result in more vulnerable people being detained. On 30 April 2024 draft statutory Adults at Risk guidance was published and the Immigration (Guidance on Detention of Vulnerable Persons) Regulations 2024 will bring the...
Leigh Day, instructed by Asylum Aid, have today sent a pre action letter challenging the lawfulness of certain aspects of the Safety of Rwanda guidance that was published on Monday 29 April 2024. The pre action letter is being shared widely within the immigration law sector (see below) so that...
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report on the Afghan relocation and resettlement schemes reveals yet another undisclosed pause on cases, this one relating to grants of entry clearance for those who met the requirements of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). Between October 2022 and March...
About us The Refugee and Migrant Centre (RMC) is an established, multi award winning charity that provides a safe, welcoming environment to thousands of refugees and migrants living in the Black Country and Birmingham. Our highly skilled and diverse staff team provide a broad range of services including advice and...
This course was published in May 2024. This short course covers the rules in place for victims of domestic abuse. Appendix Victim of Domestic Abuse allows someone who has come to the UK in one of several (but not all) partner categories to stay in the country indefinitely if the...
The second part of a challenge to the family reunion rules that exclude child refugees from bringing their family to the UK has been dismissed by the High Court. The case is R (DM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees intervening) [2024]...
As I predicted earlier today, the Lord Chancellor has today laid The Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (Amendment) Rules 2024 before Parliament. Ominously, these rules are to come into force “immediately after the coming into force of section 2 (duty to make arrangements for removal) of the...
The Illegal Migration Act 2023 (Commencement No. 2) Regulations 2024 have brought section 50 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 into force from today. As set out in the explanatory notes, section 50(1) of the Act says that the first time that Tribunal Procedure Rules are made in relation to...
In Al-Azad v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 407 the Court of Appeal has said that paragraph 322(1A) of the immigration rules (mandatory ground for refusal where false representations are used) applies to an application which has been varied by a later application in which...
Successful applicants under Appendix VDA are granted ‘settlement’, otherwise known as ‘indefinite leave to remain’ (or ‘indefinite leave to enter’ in cases of transnational marriage abandonment). VDA applications are not considered ‘human rights claims’ and do not carry a right of appeal. Instead, the applicant only has a right to...
Migrant victims of domestic abuse are highly vulnerable as a result of their insecure immigration status, especially as they usually have no recourse to public funds and may have limited resources of their own. This often makes it difficult for them to escape their abusive relationship. In recognition of this,...
There is no fixed or mandatory evidence that must be provided with a VDA application. All of the information and evidence submitted should be considered by the caseworker in the round and a conclusion drawn as to whether, on the balance of probabilities, the relationship broke down because of domestic...
Relationship requirements Not all people in the UK with permission as a partner qualify for protection under the VDA rules (see VDA 4.1). It is only applicants who currently have, or have last been granted, permission as a: Fiancé(e)s and proposed civil partners are not eligible to apply for indefinite...
Validity Applications under the VDA rules generally follow the same validity requirements as with other application categories. They are as follows: If an application does not meet all the validity requirements, it may be ‘rejected’ as invalid and not considered. This is important as the application is not ‘refused’ and...
