Children may arrive in the care of local authorities without British citizenship or UK immigration status. They and their social workers may not realise there is an issue until, for example, the child has a school trip abroad and needs a passport; until they apply to university; or until they...
Immigration Solicitor Full Time: Salary on enquiry We are a long-established London-based law firm focusing on protecting and advancing human rights. We are recruiting for an immigration solicitor. We are an experienced department practising in a wide range of immigration matters. We deal with cases from the initial application through...
The Deprivation of Citizenship Orders (Effect during Appeal) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on Monday this week. I wrote up the Bill when first introduced and it has passed unamended since then. The Act was brought in as a response to N3 v Secretary of State for the Home Department...
As trailed by the Home Secretary in a press release yesterday, the government has launched a six week consultation on the implementation of the extension of right to work checks beyond standard employment relationships. The extension itself is already in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill at clause 45....
Two more immigration lawyers, a barrister and a solicitor, are facing the possibility of a Hamid hearing and a referral to their professional regulator after the Upper Tribunal issued show cause orders to each of them in cases involving alleged misuse of AI. These are two unreported decisions, one was...
We’re recruiting a Trainee Solicitor (Immigration and Employment) Salary: £30,000 – £32,000 Contract length: Fixed-term for 2 years Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours per week) Location: London hybrid (1 day per week working in the office) The Work Rights Centre, in partnership with the Legal Education Foundation Fellowship Programme, is looking...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The Home Secretary was at it again last week, writing in The Sun and making fact free assertions about “ridiculous legal challenges” and “abuse of modern slavery laws”. Notably, on the latter she said that she has “already taken action”. This may mean...
In a newly reported decision, the Upper Tribunal has given guidance on how the tribunal must consider the best interests of any children, where relevant to the appeal. The case is Mujaj (Deprivation: children’s best interests) Albania [2025] UKUT 349 (IAC). The headnote states as follows: In a deprivation appeal...
Migrant Help, one of the main subcontractors responsible for providing trafficking support to victims under the modern slavery victim care contract, has admitted that they acted in breach of the Home Office’s recovery needs assessment policy by refusing to provide a victim with a copy of a decision made by...
Senior Immigration Practitioner Edinburgh At Thorntons Law, every moment matters. Join our Immigration Team and you’ll feel inspired. You’ll feel connected. You’ll feel like you belong. And it all begins from the moment you join us. That’s because we’ve created a different kind of law firm. Here, you’ll build relationships...
Immigration Lawyer Edinburgh At Thorntons Law, every moment matters. Join our Immigration Team and you’ll feel inspired. You’ll feel connected. You’ll feel like you belong. And it all begins from the moment you join us. That’s because we’ve created a different kind of law firm. Here, you’ll build relationships with...
In a newly reported decision, the Upper Tribunal has reminded judges that a hearing should be held whenever credibility is disputed on any material issue or fact and that it will only be a rare case where it is “appropriate and fair” to decide such a case on the papers....
The Home Affairs Committee has published its report into the Home Office’s management of asylum accommodation. Unsurprisingly, given the known extent of the issues, the report is 123 pages with several pages of recommendations. Conclusions include that there is an over-reliance on the use of contingency accommodation, such as hotels,...
This article explains how to make a successful application for a predetermination or biometric excuse where a person has applied for entry clearance to the UK but the journey to a visa application centre to enrol their biometrics is considered dangerous. Biometric predetermination means that an applicant wants a decision...
The High Court has ruled on the limits of immigration bail powers in the context of electronic monitoring conditions where there is no prospect of the Home Office removing the tag wearer from the UK. The case is R (Mustafa Taskiran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025]...
One of the biggest changes introduced by the most recent statement of changes is not so much the replacement of the Part 9 grounds for refusal with a new yet very similar “Part Suitability” but rather the way these rules will now apply in full to the following applications that...
Purpose of the post: To assist the development, delivery and quality assurance of all of Hope Project’s legal and advice services including the delivery of Legal Assessments to refused asylum seekers; and to develop and run a student placement pilot project Location: Working from Home and Hope’s Birmingham office as...
Some immigration routes, like the global talent route, the partner route, and those with permission as dependants of points based system applicants allow individuals to have flexible work arrangements. Other routes allow a wide degree of work but with restrictions, such as students being unable to undertake ‘business activity’, which...
Around 200,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK since Ukraine was invaded in early 2022. Settled’s Ukraine Advice Service is at the forefront of providing expert immigration advice on Ukraine visa schemes and related matters. This post will bring much needed additional capacity to a small, very busy team. In...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Sonia is away this week so I’m stepping in to bring you the newsletter. Please be kind! It was a busy week which saw the fifth statement of changes to the immigration rules published in four months. As Colin noted, there were a lot...
The common travel area enables passport-free and legal travel between the United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland), the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands for British and Irish citizens and migrants with lawful status. Once a person is within the common travel area, there are no...
The majority of unaccompanied children who enter the UK to seek asylum do not bring with them evidence of their age. Because of this, the Home Office has a duty to carry out an initial assessment of their age to establish whether they are, or could be, children. The Home...
The UK expansion worker visa is part of the global business mobility route. It enables overseas businesses seeking to expand into the UK to temporarily assign senior managers and specialist employees, including business owners, to the UK to establish a British operation. Opening on 11 April 2022, it replaced the...
A care worker has successfully challenged the Home Office’s decision to curtail his skilled worker visa after the High Court found immigration enforcement officers failed to ensure procedural fairness when conducting an interview in the middle of Birmingham New Street Station. Background The claimant in R (On the Application of...
A deaf and blind man has unsuccessfully challenged the Home Office’s decision to move him within the asylum accommodation system, away from a place where he could easily access a supportive community. The case is R (BLV) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 2516 (Admin) and...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! I am writing this week’s newsletter on Thursday, so the usual disclaimers apply if any big news is missing. I usually prefer to ignore the utterances of certain politicians, but it has only been a few days since the last newsletter and I...
New immigration rules were published today affecting a wide range of immigration routes. Most of the changes had already been announced in the earlier immigration white paper but there are a few surprises included in what is formally known as Statement of Changes HC 1333. If you are glutton for...
The British government has, with immediate effect from 3pm today, imposed a new visit visa requirement on Botswanan nationals. This change is set out in the statement of changes to the immigration rules HC1333 published today. Previously, a Botswanan could get on a plane, travel to the UK and apply...
An immigration adviser trading as Sport Immigration Services (SIS) has lost his appeal against cancellation of registration by the Immigration Advice Authority (formerly OISC). The case is Kesejini (t/a Sport Immigration Services) v Immigration Services Commissioner [2025] UKFTT 290 (GRC). Background Complaints were made about SIS in January and February...
The Work Rights Centre is a leading advocate for the rights of migrants and vulnerable workers. Our frontline team recovers thousands in unpaid wages and helps hundreds of people to secure their immigration status every year. But we know that to create lasting change, we can’t just fix individual problems—we...
A decision from 26 July 2024 refusing permission for judicial review in a case involving the Afghan data breach has just been made public following the lifting of the Afghan superinjunction. At the same time as this decision, permission was granted on other grounds in an open judgment, with the...
The Court of Appeal has overturned a refusal of permission by the Upper Tribunal in a judicial review claim where the appellant disputed receipt of an email from the Home Office cancelling his leave. He had seemingly only discovered that the cancellation has been sent after he instructed solicitors to...
A judge from Afghanistan has successfully challenged a refusal to bring him to the UK under the Afghan Assistance and Relocations Programme, meaning that the decision will need to be remade. The case is R (ACG) v Secretary of State for Defence [2025] EWHC 2472 (Admin). The claimant was a...
We now have the Court of Appeal’s written decision in R (CTK) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 1264. This was the case where the High Court granted interim relief preventing the removal of an Eritrean man to France, prompting a change in the modern...
The Home Secretary must carry out a review of the policy on refugee family reunion for child refugees under the now closed Appendix Family Reunion (Sponsors with Protection) in line with her duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, having failed to do so previously....
The Migration Advisory Committee has published its stage 1 report on the temporary shortage list (for anyone who needs a reminder of which list is which – we have an explainer here). The letter from the Chair explains that in today’s report the committee has made recommendations for the design...
