The Upper Tribunal interprets spouse extension rule paragraph 284 on overstay and valid applications, required documents and whether an old English language certificate is sufficient in a refreshingly realistic and enabling determination: (i) The correct construction of paragraph 284(iv) of the Immigration Rules is that the applicant has a period of...
This post is reblogged from Professor Steve Peer’s excellent and comprehensive post on the immigration aspects of UK’s renegotiation proposals. What follows is the section of that blog post on family members. Head over to the original for more information on benefits, the “emergency brake” and criminality and free movement...
UPDATE 10/2/16: the judge has withdrawn the judgment. A married Indian couple detained in a dawn raid have lost their claim for unlawful detention. After successfully studying in the UK for some years, Ms Joshi’s latest application ran into problems when the college to which she applied to study a PhD was...
A person sentenced to a term of 12 months imprisonment made up of consecutive terms is not a ‘foreign criminal’ within the meaning of the deportation provisions of the Immigration Rules and is not therefore subject to paragraph 398 of those Rules. Source: OLO and Others (para 398 – “foreign...
In the case of VV (grounds of appeal) [2016] UKUT 53 (IAC) (13 November 2015) the Upper Tribunal yet again criticises Home Office conduct of appeals to the Upper Tribunal against decisions of the First-tier. This case comes on top of Nixon (permission to appeal: grounds) [2014] UKUT 368 (IAC) (FM post: Contrasting cases on...
This is just a quick note to update everyone that Cranston J has listed four cases for hearing on 25 and 26 February 2016 challenging the lawfulness of the Detained Asylum Casework (DAC)/ Detained Non-Suspensive Appeals (DNSA) system (i.e. the post- July 2015 incarnation of the system formerly known as...
Although the Algerian Criminal Code makes homosexual behaviour unlawful, the authorities do not seek to prosecute gay men and there is no real risk of prosecution, even when the authorities become aware of such behaviour. In the very few cases where there has been a prosecution for homosexual behaviour, there...
Lone women in Pakistan without family support may be at risk of persecution, rules tribunal: (1) Save as herein set out, the existing country guidance in SN and HM (Divorced women – risk on return) Pakistan CG [2004] UKIAT 00283 and in KA and Others (domestic violence – risk on return) Pakistan CG [2010] UKUT 216 (IAC) remains valid....
Only danger to lesbians in India is from their own family, rules tribunal: (1) The guidance in MD (same-sex oriented males) India CG [2014] UKUT 65 (IAC) stands. The guidance at (a) – (f) in MD (India) applies equally to lesbians. (2) A risk of persecution or serious harm for a lesbian woman in India, where it exists,...
Following the judgment last year in R (on the application of Zewdu) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 2148 (Admin) (09 June 2015) solicitors Duncan Lewis have revealed that the Home Office agreed to pay a record £40,000 in damages for the 19 month delay in...
Quick note from S Chelvan of No 5 Chambers: Lord Justice Treacy has granted permission to appeal in proceedings which seek to challenge refusal of a fresh claim, but also seek to challenge Detained Fast Track determinations made under the 2005 Detained Fast Track Rules. Underpinning the three decisions under...
A new report into asylum casework at the Home Office has just been published by David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. The inspection took place between March and July 2015 and was presented to Theresa May on 9 December 2015, so publication has been delayed for...
Welcome to the December 2015 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this episode I talk about a few more general issues such as Donald Trump and visas bans, a refreshed post on Adult Dependent Relatives and a post by Berrnard Ryan on whether the new requirement for...
New research shows that the modest economic growth of the past four years has been met by an unprecedented shortage of skills, leaving thousands of vacancies unfilled. Source: Employers facing talent poverty as skills shortages rise 130% in four years – Press releases – GOV.UK I couldn’t resist sharing this. It...
In the case of R (on the application of Babbage) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 148 (Admin) Mr Justice Garnham ordered the release of a detained Zimbabwean foreign criminal. In the process, he was corruscating critical of the conduct of Government lawyers acting for the Secretary of...
The Government’s “right to rent” scheme requiring landlords to conduct “papers, please” checks on the immigration status of tenants comes into force today, 1 February 2016. It is hard to think of a worse example of a disproportionate policy, classically defined as a hammer being used to crack a nut. Who...
Full judgment is available here: R (on the application of ZAT and Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Article 8 ECHR – Dublin Regulation – interface – proportionality) IJR [2016] UKUT 61 (IAC). The applicant children were all clearly very vulnerable and all had family members in the UK....
Question: …the issue raised on this appeal may be stated in the following terms: was the Appellant entitled after 9 July 2012 (when the new Immigration Rules came into effect) to continue to accrue continuous residence for the purposes of the 14 year rule contained in paragraph 276B of the...
Well, this was a bit cheeky. A woman with an outstanding in-country immigration appeal was removed by the Home Office when she should not have been. The Home Office then argued that her appeal had to be treated as abandoned becuase of section 92(8) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum...
Mr Johnson was born on 18 March 1985 in Jamaica. His mother was a Jamaican national and his father was a British national. At the time of his birth, an “illegitimate” child could acquire British nationality at birth or by registration as a minor only if his mother was a...
In the case of Onos v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 59 (Admin) Mrs Justice Laing held that the decision to remove a Nigerian lady and her three children was a lawful one but that the decision to detain the family at the Cedars facility prior to...
This announcement is being reported differently in different outlets. The actual text of the announcement so far (a Ministerial statement will follow later today) is as below. There is a clear reference to reuniting children in Europe with refugee family members already in the UK, which is very much to...
Over the last two weeks a local group, with ever mounting, incredible support from so many through word of mouth and social media, raised funds and collected priority items to take to the Calais ‘Jungle’ and Dunkirk camp. We filled 3 large vans and a car with men’s clothes, blankets,...
Home Office rejects trafficking claim on basis that the claim was delayed and the account was inconsistent. Decision ruled unlawful for failure to follow Home Office’s own guidance on trafficking claims, which points out that there may be valid reasons why a genuine victim of trafficking is inconsistent in giving...
A Polish man detained in immigration detention for three years while his appeal dragged on and on was found not to have been unlawfully detained. Apart from anything else the case illustrates the excessively leisurely pace of immigration appeals, particularly in the Upper Tribunal in this instance. Source: Machnikowski v...
A Tier 4 student prohibited from working was accused of the Home Office of breach of his conditions of leave by taking part time employment. A decision was taken to remove him under the pre-Immigration Act 2014 version of section 10 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. he was served...
This is an interesting case in which an entry clearance application by an elderly relative was refused by the ECO but the appeal allowed on human rights grounds by a First-tier Tribunal judge, whose decision is here upheld by President McCloskey. It is also interesting because it sounds like an...
A national of Kazakhstan applied for an extension of stay as a Tier 4 student. As a national of that country, he was required by the Immigration Rules to register with the police. His application was rejected by the Home Office as invalid on the basis that he was also...
Several news outlets are reporting this morning that the Dublin III Regulation is likely to be scrapped by the Commission in March. It may be that Peter Sutherland, the UN Special Representative on Migration, was right when he said last year that the Regulation was “dead”. If it is dead...
The Migration Advisory Commitee (MAC to its friends) has today published its report into how to tighten the Tier 2 skilled migrant route so as to reduce non EU migration. In 2014 there were 52,478 main applicants granted new visas to enter or remain in the UK under Tier 2. Of...
Potentially useful fresh asylum claim decision holding that two Ahmadi siblings from Pakistan had a realistic prospect of success before a judge on the basis of new evidence from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association of the United Kingdom about their activities in the UK since their original asylum appeal has been...
In the case of Rosa v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 14 the Court of Appeal has again ruled that in EU free movement law cases, the burden for proving a marriage is a marriage of convenience rests with the Home Office: In my judgment, the legal...
In 2014 the Home Office amended the UK’s rules on EU law deportation cases to allow a deportation to go ahead before an EEA national completes any appeal process against that decision to deport. This has become known as “deport first, appeal later”. Similar rules were also introduced for non...
The Law Society’s Immigration Law Committee has put together an excellent and comprehensive practice note on immigration judicial review practice, procedure and conduct issues. It is aimed at: All practitioners bringing immigration judicial review claims on behalf of claimants before the Administrative Court in England and Wales (High Court) and...
Official headnote to R (on the application of RK) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (s.117B(6); “parental relationship” (IJR) [2016] UKUT 31 (IAC): 1. It is not necessary for an individual to have “parental responsibility” in law for there to exist a parental relationship. 2. Whether a person who...
In another reminder that British citizenship can be refused on the basis of past dishonest conduct we have the case of R (on the application of Rushiti & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 3931 (Admin). This one dates back a few months but I’m afraid...
The review by Stephen Shaw into the welfare in immigration detention of vulnerable persons has been published today. The Government has responded stating that it “accepts the broad thrust of his recommendations” and that the Home Office expects its reforms to reduce the number of those detained and the duration of detention before...
Hat tip to colleague Amanda Weston for this one. In The Government of the United States of America v Giese [2015] EWHC 2733 (Admin) (07 October 2015) the High Court found in an extradition case that the “civil commitment” system operated by California in respect of sexual offenders who have served their...
