How should we seek to comply with the rules relating to foreign language witness statements in litigation that are governed by the Civil Procedure Rules, including judicial review proceedings in the Administrative Court, and civil actions in the Kings Bench Division and County Courts? The relevant rules and guidance relating...
I don’t think Sonia and I have a great deal of competition in the “monthly immigration law update podcast” niche, strangely, but all the attention on net migration has caused a few podcast series to turn their attention to immigration generally. There are three I’ve heard in the last couple...
The High Court has decided it should not invoke its wardship jurisdiction in relation to missing and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. In Article 39 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1398 (Fam), Article 39, a charity promoting and protecting the rights of children in England who are...
More than a quarter of people crossing the Channel in small boats came from Albania in 2022, although the numbers have since then declined massively. Until recently, around half of asylum claims from Albanian nationals were initially accepted. However, a report by the House of Commons Home Affairs committee concludes...
In a report published yesterday, the Joint Committee on Human Rights warns that the Illegal Migration Bill would deny access to the asylum system to the vast majority of refugees, in breach of a number of binding international human rights obligations, if it was passed in its current form. You...
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 Ukraine Scheme homelessness statistics released each month provide an update on the long-term consequences of additional schemes for people with Ukraine Scheme visas. Monitoring of progress through regular data publication (even if incomplete) highlights where the government and local councils are doing well, and where they are not. You...
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick today announced that the government was dropping its “differentiated status” approach to refugees, introduced less than one year ago as the centrepiece of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. The policy was to put refugees who arrived without prior permission on a ten year route to...
On 26 May, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) published a report ‘Asylum Screening in the UK: An audit of the UK’s asylum intake, registration and screening procedures and recommendations for change’ which identifies a number of problem areas. They visited registration and screening locations across the UK between June...
The Independent Monitoring Authority has released a report following an inquiry into the delays in issuing Certificates of Applications to EU Settlement Scheme applicants. The report confirms the government’s obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement and evidences where and why delays are occurring. It found that the Home Office failed to...
We live in a reaction economy. The age of social media means that governments, companies, and others in the public eye are not ruled by accountants assessing their bottom line or journalists scrutinising their actions, but by voters tapping onto their screens at home. Few government departments have embraced this...
On 22nd May 2023 the Upper Tribunal published a new country guidance on case on Democratic Republic of Congo, PO (DRC – Post 2018 elections) (CG) [2023] UKUT 00117. PO considers the risk of persecution for political opponents following the election of Felix Tshisekedi in 2019, significantly narrowing the scope...
On 1 December 2020, the Grounds for Refusal in Part 9 of the immigration rules were amended, providing the Home Office with a wider scope to refuse permission applications and cancel existing permission. They include stricter mandatory grounds of refusal which, when applicable, require that applications for permission “must be...
A judgment in the High Court details multiple examples of unlawful detention of individuals re-entering the UK because an unpublished Home Office policy wrongly suggested officers had the power to stop, detain and question individuals who have unpaid NHS debt. The case is MXK & Ors, R (On the application...
The unduly harsh test in deportation cases has been subject to litigation for years and we have written about it in several articles, most recently in relation to the Supreme Court case of HA (Iraq). The Court of Appeal has now published its judgment in Sicwebu v Secretary of State...
Following the abolition of the “not in accordance with the immigration rules” ground of appeal by the Immigration Act 2014, several cases have considered the relevance of the immigration rules in human rights appeals. The Upper Tribunal has neatly encapsulated the current position in a recent case, Caguitla (Paragraphs 197...
JOB TITLE: Children’s Asylum Solicitor/ Caseworker LOCATION: Asylum Aid Office (London) RESPONSIBLE TO: Immigration Supervisor CONTRACT: Permanent, full time (37.5 hours) – part-time working considered (minimum 22.5 hours per week) SALARY: £35,000 p.a. (pro rata if part time) BENEFITS: 27 days holiday plus 4% matched pension contribution START DATE: August 2023;...
The Upper Tribunal has set aside a decision of the First-tier Tribunal after finding the hearing was unfair because of the conduct of the judge and the failure to adjourn the case when the Home Office Presenting Officer raised concerns over her personal safety. The Upper Tribunal in MS (judicial...
The latest quarterly immigration statistics were published today. Most of the media focus is on net migration and the Office of National Statistics ONS report. Net migration turned out to be around 600,000 rather than the 700,000 or more that some had predicted. Here, though, we’re going to focus on...
There is only a day left to respond to the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC’s) current call for evidence on what roles should appear on the Shortage Occupation List. Employers have until 26th May 2023 to put forward their cases for why certain job roles and types should be added to or...
The government have introduced a new bill confirming people’s British citizenship rights to confirm how British nationality law is applied to people born in the UK to parents who are EU citizens between 1 January 1983 and 1 October 2000. The British Nationality (Regularisation of Past Practice) Bill follows the...
The Global Business Mobility: Service Supplier route is for overseas workers who are undertaking temporary assignments in the UK. The applicant must be either a contractual service supplier employed by an overseas service provider or a self-employed independent professional based overseas. The service performed must be covered by one of...
In a written statement to parliament today, Suella Braverman announced that the government intends to tighten the rules for international students in an attempt to bring down net migration figures, which are due to be published this Thursday, 25 May. The government have also published a news story to confirm...
The Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA) has released an update on the concerns raised with the EU Settlement Scheme and the implications of the Home Office’s updates to the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) accounts of EU Settlement Scheme applicants who received a refusal decision between 27 June 2021 and 19...
In January this year, the Home Office updated its guidance on reporting conditions, again. Version 6 was published on 19 January 2023, replacing version 5 which was in place for less than six months, from 30 June 2022. Version 5 Version 5 was very much a welcome development in terms of reporting conditions. It adopted […]
...Some big news at Free Movement. Two bits of big news, in fact. New Editor Firstly, I am delighted to announce that Sonia Lenegan is joining Free Movement as the new Editor in August. She will be replacing me, although I’ll still be lurking in the background and contributing from...
Rainbow Migration, the longest-running UK charity dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system, is recruiting a Legal and Policy Director to join our management team. The Director will lead and develop our unique immigration advice service and draw on the experiences of our service users to...
The Upper Tribunal has given guidance on the correct approach in deprivation appeals. The headnote to this case, Chimi (deprivation appeals; scope and evidence) Cameroon [2023] UKUT 00115 (IAC), says: Page contentsBackgroundThe lawCondition precedentDiscretionEvidenceThe decision Background Ms Chimi was born in September 1977 in Cameroon. In 2000 she moved to...
R (Kanu) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs [2023] EWHC 652 (Admin) was a challenge to the Foreign Secretary’s acting in assisting a British national who had been detained in Nigeria, allegedly in breach of international law. Mr Kanu was the brother of Nnamdi Kanu (NK), the...
The High Court has found that the Secretary of State for Defence had not given full and adequate reasons and had acted contrary to its policy when considering an application for settlement in the UK by an individual working with the British embassy in Afghanistan. R (MKA) v Secretary of...
The Home Office recently announced a new requirement for employers sponsoring overseas workers to report their usual working locations. They have now U-turned on that policy. During the pandemic the Home Office advised that there was no obligation for sponsors to notify them if a sponsored worker was working from...
Yesterday the Prime Minister announced a quota of 45,000 seasonal worker visas for 2024, “to give certainty to the horticulture sector next year, enabling them to plan ahead for the picking season”. It is billed as part of a larger package of support for British farmers. But we know that...
This month we talk more about the Illegal Migration Bill and its potential consequences, the right way to go about tackling the asylum backlog, Colin’s suggestion of a new British Citizenship Act, the resumption of hostile environment bank account closures, we run through a load of cases and end by...
New legislation comes into force today that ensures that UK and Irish nationals, and any other individual with a status in the UK that provides them with recourse to public funds, who left Sudan as a result of the recent violence are exempt from the residency test. This means that...
Wednesday 10 May 2023 saw a few developments with the Illegal Migration Bill, as the second reading took place in the House of Lords, and the Equality Impact Assessment was published. We’ve summarised the key points below. Page contentsHouse of LordsEquality Impact AssessmentWhere is the Economic Impact Assessment?Next stages House...
New and accessible guidance has been released by the Home Office on the deprivation of British citizenship under section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981, detailing the approach caseworkers should take when deciding such cases, replacing previous Deprivation and nullity guidance. The guidance covers instances where an individual may...
A Youth Mobility visa enables people aged 18-30 to live and work in the UK, usually for up to two years. It used to be called the “working holiday-maker scheme” and some people may still call it that. Crucially, there is no requirement to have an employer to sponsor a...
