Very interesting, worrying and yet somehow unsurprising study on inconsistencies in asylum appeal adjudication by Nick Gill, Rebecca Rotter, Andrew Burridge, Melanie Griffiths and Jennifer Allsopp in the September 2015 edition of the Forced Migration Review. For example: Judges are advised to take an ‘enabling’ role with unrepresented appellants but in...
Monday: 3:30pm. Like most asylum lawyer geeks — you know who you are — I was hanging on every word of the Prime Minister when he made his announcement on how many Syrian “refugees” would be provided resettlement in the UK. He was at pains to distinguish between refugees and...
In a judgment that may be of interest to legal aid lawyers, the High Court has overturned a rejection by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) of a legal aid claim by Duncan Lewis solicitors. The Legal Aid Agency should have considered whether the means assessment conducted by Duncan Lewis, which...
Welcome to the July 2015 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this episode I start by talk about Sir Nicholas Winton then move on to discuss the huge delays in appeal hearing listings and some other tribunal news, cover some immigration rule issues including a brief overview...
Last month’s report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Inspection of Border Force Operations at Heathrow Airport, reveals that the Border Force Officers at Heathrow Airport are failing to record justifications for detention and searches of passengers. If they did keep a record, they often failed to complete...
The latest in the increasingly long line of cases in which the judiciary has administered public dressings down for immigration lawyers is R (On the Application Of Akram & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1359 (Admin). The cases are often referred to as Hamid cases,...
In the rather odd recently reported case of Iqbal (Para 322 Immigration Rules) [2015] UKUT 434 (IAC) the President makes the point that some of the general grounds for refusal are mandatory (“shall be refused”) and some are discretionary (“should normally be refused” or “may be curtailed”). This is such basic...
Fundamental Rights Conference: a public law perspective Saturday 10 October 2015, 9:45 – 17:00 Venue: LSE New Academic Building 54 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ CPD: 5.5 Garden Court Chambers’ Public Law Team in association with Legal Action Group and the London School of Economics invites you to join us...
Being named as father on birth certificate will in future no longer be sufficient to prove paternity in British nationality law where the parents are unmarried. The change is introduced by the British Nationality (Proof of Paternity) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 which amend the British Nationality (Proof of Paternity) Regulations 2006. The changes only...
Welcome to the June 2015 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this episode I talk about where we are now on the detained fast track, cover a few tribunal cases and then finish with some important and useful higher court cases and a couple of mentions for...
Criminal investigation: sham marriage is a new Home Office policy document setting out in one place the Home Office approach to investigating sham marriage allegations, including under the new Immigration Act 2014 scheme of referrals from registrars and the increased notice period (from 28 to 72 days) that the Home Office...
A judicial review of unlawful reasons given by the Home Office will, as inevitably as night follows day, be followed by “supplementary” reasons letters in the event of a legal challenge. This is a hugely frustrating and abusive practice by the Home Office. Essentially, rubbish and peremptory reasons are given...
In BM (false passport) DRC [2015] UKUT 467 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal concludes: The mere fact that an asylum claimant utilised a false passport or kindred document in departing the DRC will not without more engage the risk category specified in [119(iv)] of BM and Others (Returnees: Criminal and Non-Criminal)...
Germany has taken the extremely welcome step of suspending the transfer of Syrian asylum seekers under the Dublin III Regulation. As long ago as November 2013 UNHCR called for countries not to return Syrian nationals to their first point of entry in the EU. As the war has worsened and...
The family visit visa system underwent an inspection by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration last month. The posts inspected were Abu Dhabi, Accra, Amman, Dhaka, Kingston, Manila, Nairobi, New Delhi, Croydon and Sheffield. The Inspector confidently declares that there is “no evidence that the removal of the full...
At a time of escalating rhetoric by Ministers, with their language of invasion, inundation and insects, a new report by Mapping Immigration Controversy confirms that the main effect of the Government campaigns on immigration are fear and anger, not reassurance. Emotions are stoked not dampened. Mapping Immigration Controversy has been running...
The case of N v SSHD will stand: the Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal (see p9) from the Court of Appeal in the linked medical treatment cases on Article 3 ECHR with the words: With regret, the Panel can foresee no reasonable prospect of this Court departing from N v...
The UK’s complex deportation regime, involving intertwined immigration rules, statute and UK and ECHR case law, is finally to be considered by Supreme Court (see page 7). Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been granted in three separate cases. In the courts below these were: Secretary of State for the Home...
Yesterday The Verne Immigration Removal Centre was criticised by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for its “prison-like” regime and high levels of violence and today HMCIP described Yarl’s Wood as an issue “of national concern”. These are damning inspection reports and the Government’s only response is to express “disappointment” and point to...
The President of the First-tier Tribunal, Michael Clements, has decided that old appeals heard and dismissed under the Detained Fast Track should be re-opened and re-heard. You can read here a note by my colleague Raza Halim on the latest development, which is a decision by the President of the First-tier...
In the absence of legal means by which to enter countries of sanctuary, refugees resort to the use of irregular means of entry. Some will falsely apply for and obtain a visit or student visa and then apply for asylum once within the UK. Others will use clandestine means to enter...
Just a quick alert for now (I’ll come back and update this when I get a chance) but an interesting looking new case was reported last week on the generally unexplored issue of the concept of sufficiency of protection, invented in the House of Lords case of Horvath, and its...
R (on the application of GB by litigation friend, Francesco Jeff) v Oxfordshire County Council (age dispute- relevance of documents) IJR [2015] UKUT 429 (IAC) is an interesting and successful judicial review challenge to an age assessment. My colleague Shu Shin Luh was Counsel, instructed by Scott-Moncrieff & Associates. The official headnote reads: The duty of...
In R (on the application of Bilal Ahmed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (EEA/s 10 appeal rights: effect) IJR [2015] UKUT 436 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal concludes that there is no in country right of appeal where a non EEA foreign national marries an EEA national and...
Fortunately, the Upper Tribunal has clarified a pressing issue of European Union law for us in the case of Yusuf (EEA – ceasing to be a jobseeker; effect) [2015] UKUT 433 (IAC): An individual who has acquired the status of worker for the purposes of article 45 (ex Article 3)...
Updated policy guidance on appeals against conviction and sentence by foreign national offenders has been published. The broad thrust is that removal or deportation cannot occur during an appeal against conviction and/or sentence although preparations for removal can, but removal or deportation can occur if a reference to the CCRC is pending....
A consultation and impact assessment on the new panic proposals to remove asylum support for failed asylum seekers have been published. These reveal the details of the proposals. The summary of the Government’s preference in the impact assessment is: Remove support for failed asylum seekers whose asylum claim is finally...
The new case of Kuldip Singh Case C‑218/14 is important on two separate issues: when non EU citizens might retain rights of residence in the event of divorce and on the source of self sufficiency in EU law. EU free movement law does not only apply to EU citizens but also to...
Finding Home: Real Stories of Migrant Britain is a new book by Emily Dugan. Emily is Social Affairs Editor at The Independent and has reported with empathy on immigration issues on a number of occasions. I generally try to avoid films, television and books on immigration and asylum issues simply...
“Cockroaches” according to Katie Hopkins. A “swarm” according to our likeminded Prime Minister, David Cameron, and The Daily Mail (again). An “army” according to the popular press, who seem to think we should literally send troops into France (without asking the French, we can assume) to hold the thin red...
The Upper Tribunal has found in the case of MSM (journalists; political opinion; risk) Somalia [2015] UKUT 00413 (IAC) [BAILII](with UNHCR intervening) that a Somali journalist would be at risk of persecution if returned to Somalia and that, crucially, he cannot be expected to change profession in order to avoid persecution....
In an interesting example of the self defeating nature of the UK’s immigration rules, failure to follow Home Office policy and failure of basic common sense, the renowned Chinese artist Mr Ai Wei Wei has been refused a visit visa by a senior British immigration official. He has been granted entry...
The Home Office is systematically reducing the time available to lodge immigration appeals by exploiting a change in the procedure rules and sending decisions by second class post. In October 2014 the procedure rules changed so that appeals had to be lodged 14 days from the date a decision is sent....
In a judgment handed down this morning, the Court of Appeal has agreed with Nichol J’s earlier judgment in the High Court holding the Detained Fast Track appeal system to be inherently unfair. The new judgment is The Lord Chancellor v Detention Action [2015] EWCA Civ 840. The Home Office were...
The Upper Tribunal has handed down another two cases on the statutory human rights considerations introduced by the Immigration Act 2014. The relationship between Article 8, the Immigration Rules and the statutory considerations is the itch that judges cannot help but scratch, but it is primarily an academic and political...
Interesting Freedom of Information request and results from 2013 on Presenting Officer training materials I just came across by chance. The request was made by Steven Green of BritCits and the materials are interesting. I haven’t been through them with a tooth comb but, for example, saw some interesting material...
