All Articles: EU Free Movement

The latest immigration and asylum statistics have been published today. We have highlighted some of the interesting data below on asylum, EU Settlement Scheme, fee waivers and student and work routes. Page contentsAsylumInadmissibilityHomelessness of refugeesLarge drop in attendance by Home Office presenting officers at asylum appealsFee waiversEU Settlement SchemeStudentsWorkConclusion Asylum...

29th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Office has introduced some flexibility for some people who are applying late to the EU Settlement Scheme, after the rules were severely tightened in August last year. The new version 22 of the guidance for caseworkers on the EU Settlement Scheme applies to decisions made from 16 January...

25th January 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In Dani (non-removal human rights submissions) Albania [2023] UKUT 293 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal has said that an application made under the EU settlement scheme does not in itself amount to a human rights claim. This is yet another case where people trying to access their rights under the EU...

21st December 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

It is well established that the requirements of procedural fairness will very often require that a person who may be adversely affected by a decision is given an opportunity to make representations before the decision is taken with a view to producing a favourable result. There is a duty to...

13th December 2023
BY Iain Halliday

The Home Office has changed the immigration rules and the guidance on making applications to the EU Settlement Scheme, taking a far more restrictive approach to late applications than has been the case previously. The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has updated its guidance to reflect these changes...

13th November 2023
BY Free Movement

From 1 October 2023 any claim governed by the Civil Procedure Rules relating to a breach of citizens’ rights under the withdrawal agreements must be notified to the Independent Monitoring Authority. The authority was set up under the terms of the withdrawal agreements with a duty to investigate  breaches of...

29th September 2023
BY Lisa Salkeld

…some parts of the rules relating to the EU Settlement Scheme are so difficult to comprehend that it is at least arguable that they lack the clarity of law. An aspect of the definition of a ‘durable partner’ contained in Annex 1 of Appendix EU (definitions) is one such example. ...

18th August 2023
BY Nath Gbikpi

If you married an EU national in the UK after 31 December 2020, you can’t get leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme unless you previously had or applied for an EEA residence card or family permit as their durable partner. That remains the case even if you would...

1st August 2023
BY Deborah Revill

Digital technology plays a central role in the ongoing reform of British borders after Brexit, and the 2019 launch of the EU Settlement Scheme was a pivotal moment in this transformation. The EUSS introduced an online-by-default process to apply for immigration status and, crucially, an online-only process to evidence it....

31st July 2023
BY Kuba Jablonowski

Absences from the United Kingdom — time spent outside the UK, basically — can have an impact on whether a person qualifies for full settled status under the EU settlement scheme. If you spend too long outside the country, you may lose your eligibility for settled status. This rule has...

27th July 2023
BY Charlotte Rubin

In a highly technical decision, Osunneye (Zambrano, transitional appeal rights) Nigeria [2023] UKUT 162 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal has concluded that Zambrano appeals may proceed notwithstanding the various Brexit regulations. The official headnote: A decision to the contrary would have come as something of a surprise as it was surely...

25th July 2023
BY Colin Yeo

The child of an EU national is only entitled to stay in the UK after Brexit if they are under 21 or dependent on their parent, the High Court has held. In reaching this conclusion, the court in R (on the application of Ali) v Secretary of State for the...

7th July 2023
BY Deborah Revill

The British Nationality (Regularisation of Past Practice) Act 2023 came into force on 29 June 2023. It inserts a new section 50B into the British Nationality Act 1981. Section 50B definitively and retrospectively confirms the British nationality status of all children born in the UK between 1 January 1983 and 1 October 2000 to an […]

...
6th July 2023
BY John Vassiliou

It is not often you’ll see an Upper Tribunal judge simply concede defeat trying to understand what on earth the immigration rules mean, but this is exactly what happened in this unreported Appendix EU durable partner appeal. For those who have battled the complexities of Appendix EU, there is some...

25th January 2023
BY Chris Benn

The Brexit fall out continues with the High Court finding in the case of Independent Monitoring Authority v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3274 (Admin) that the EU settlement scheme is unlawful. The scheme was set up by the British government to transition the lawful basis...

23rd December 2022
BY Chris Benn

Across Europe, asylum seekers and displaced people are facing growing hostility as they look to start new lives escaping war and persecution. In Greece, there is continually mounting evidence of “pushbacks” to which Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, have been shown to be turning a blind eye....

30th November 2022
BY Gemma Bird

The Home Office has finally responded to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s judgment in the case of VI v Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs C-247/20, handed down on 10 March 2022, by updating its guidance on European Economic Area (EEA) national qualified persons. The update effectively concedes...

2nd November 2022
BY Josie Laidman

Appendix EU and Appendix EU (Family Permit) have both received some updates in the latest Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules. The accompanying explanatory statement gives an overview of the changes that have been made. The changes come into force on 9 November 2022.  A few of the definitions...

20th October 2022
BY Chris Benn

In Celik (EU exit; marriage; human rights) [2022] UKUT 00220 (IAC) and Batool and others (other family members: EU exit) [2022] UKUT 00219 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal considered to what extent human rights arguments can be considered in EU Settled Status appeal. In short: they can be considered where the...

25th August 2022
BY Iain Halliday

Many predicted that the heady mix of Brexit and COVID-19 would result in litigation, and so it has come to pass. Ending EU free movement law in the middle of a global pandemic – when people faced difficulty travelling, marrying, and getting advice from an immigration lawyer – was bound...

17th August 2022
BY Iain Halliday

Extended family members who have made an application under the EU Settlement Scheme, without having first obtained a residence document under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2016 are not entitled to settled or pre-settled status. This is the conclusion of the Upper Tribunal in Batool and others (other family members: EU...

16th August 2022
BY Iain Halliday

The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) opened in 2018 and had issued almost 6.5 million decisions by the end of June 2022. The sheer scale of the scheme is a remarkable achievement for the Home Office. The department took on a momentous task when the UK government decided that everyone who...

20th July 2022
BY Alice Welsh and Kuba Jablonowski

Zambrano carers who already have permission to stay in the UK under the Immigration Rules cannot use the EU Settlement Scheme as a fast track to permanent residence, the Home Office has confirmed. The department announced today that it would not be changing the rules in this area, despite having...

13th June 2022
BY CJ McKinney

In the case of Velaj v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 767, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that Zambrano applications always require factual inquiries as to what would happen to the British dependant if their primary carer(s) indeed left the UK. In the case...

7th June 2022
BY Nath Gbikpi

Under EU free movement law, British citizens who had been exercising “treaty rights” in the European Economic Area and then decided to move back to the UK could sponsor their family members to come with them. This allowed them to use the friendlier EU law rules on family migration, rather...

29th March 2022
BY Chris Benn

Before 1 January 2021, British and EU citizens did not require a visa to travel across the Channel on a business trip. This is largely still the case post-Brexit, so we’ve been left with the appearance that nothing has really changed from a legal perspective. But with the end of...

28th March 2022
BY Jack Stokes

Eligibility for NHS treatment does count as Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. The case is C‑247/20 VI v Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Page contentsBackground: non-working EU citizens needed health insuranceWhy did it take so long to decide that the NHS counts...

15th March 2022
BY Charlotte O'Brien

The most recent version of the EU Settlement Scheme caseworker guidance was released on 9 December last year. After checking the “changes from last version of this guidance” you would be forgiven for assuming that nothing had changed about the approach to late applications to the scheme, the main deadline...

1st March 2022
BY Chris Benn

Regular readers will remember the problems caused by Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, or CSI. Essentially, certain EU citizens in the UK pre-Brexit were expected to have private health insurance. If they didn’t, it can still cause them legal problems to this day, at least on paper. Baroness Ludford, speaking in the...

4th February 2022
BY CJ McKinney

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the government’s appeal against last year’s decision that the EU Settlement Scheme rules on Zambrano carers are unlawful. But the judgment in Akinsanya v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 37 leaves the situation for these carers — non-EU parents...

26th January 2022
BY Bethan Lant

People having problems with their application to the EU Settlement Scheme or issues proving their status have one main point of contact with the Home Office: the EUSS helpline. The Home Office has now revealed that this valuable resource has been failing people, with only 44% of calls getting through...

26th January 2022
BY Andreea Dumitrache

Singh (EEA; EFMs) [2021] UKUT 319 (IAC) is the latest instalment from the Upper Tribunal on EU free movement law in outstanding cases from before Brexit — specifically, retained rights of residence for “durable partners”. Mr Singh had a residence card on the basis of a durable relationship with his...

10th January 2022
BY Sarah Pinder

In Sabina Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1878 the Court of Appeal considered whether an extended family member, hoping to stay in the UK with their EEA citizen sponsor, can do so when the sponsor only acquired that citizenship after the extended family...

21st December 2021
BY Iain Halliday

In the run-up to Christmas, Santa must be getting ready for his round-the-world trip on the night of 24 December. But this is the first year he will be trying to get in and out of the UK without free movement measures applying. The post-Brexit transition period, extending the application...

3rd December 2021
BY Charlotte O'Brien

The Supreme Court has overturned last year’s ruling that EU citizens with pre-settled status should be able to claim Universal Credit without having to jump through hoops. The case is Fratila and another v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] UKSC 53. Pre-settled status allows EU citizens living...

1st December 2021
BY CJ McKinney

Geci (EEA Regs: transitional provisions, appeal rights) Albania [2021] UKUT 285 (IAC) is another appeal under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, but with “highly unusual” facts. Mr Geci had returned to the UK in breach of a deportation order (twice). Rather than seeking to enforce the deportation order,...

26th November 2021
BY Samina Iqbal

Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) continues to be a barrier to British citizenship for EU citizens. Although EU citizens were not required to have CSI to qualify for the EU Settlement Scheme, it lingers on in the citizenship requirements for people previously in the UK as students or self-sufficient persons. As...

23rd November 2021
BY Lara Parizotto

The UK’s agreements on the post-Brexit rights of EU, EFTA and Swiss residents allow beneficiaries to sponsor their non-European family members to live with them in the UK. There are broadly two types of eligible family members: direct family members, such as spouses, civil partners, children and dependent parents, who...

8th November 2021
BY Chris Benn

Advocate General Hogan’s opinion in case C‑247/20 VI v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs concludes that someone no longer requires Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) once they have permanent residence under EU law. The opinion is only advisory; it is not legally binding. But the opinion of the Advocate General...

4th October 2021
BY Iain Halliday

In Velaj (EEA Regulations – interpretation; Reg 16(5); Zambrano) [2021] UKUT 235 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal looked at whether the Home Office accidentally liberalised the regulations on when the primary carer of a British child can be removed from the UK.  The tribunal concluded that it did not. As a...

22nd September 2021
BY Iain Halliday
Login
Or become a member of Free Movement today