All Articles: EU Free Movement

Mass confusion following the immigration minister’s evidence (full transcript here) to the Home Affairs committee yesterday: this was a terrible appearance by Caroline Nokes @CommonsHomeAffs yesterday. Sajid Javid needs to go back as a matter of urgency; give clear answers and put out the govt’s No Deal advice on citizens asap...

31st October 2018
BY CJ McKinney

The Court of Appeal in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Christy [2018] EWCA Civ 2378 has comprehensively rejected an argument by the Home Office seeking to limit the obligation to consider “Surinder Singh” applications by extended family members. Ben Collins QC appeared pro bono for Ms Christy. Free...

30th October 2018
BY Darren Stevenson

Figures obtained by Free Movement show that fewer than two thousand non-EU carers rely on EU law for their right to live in the UK. The relatively small number of people relying on these “derived rights of residence” raises questions about why the government appears set to deny them settlement...

29th October 2018
BY Colin Yeo

A new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules was laid on 10 October 2018. There is some very welcome news, including more flexibility given to caseworkers on whether and when they can write to applicants to ask for missing documents. (Whether they will in practice or still refuse for minor...

12th October 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

After months of uncertainty we finally have a picture emerging of what the post-Brexit immigration system will look like. We have known for some time that after we leave the EU on 29 March 2019, the plan is to enter a transition period until 31 December 2020 which will see...

3rd October 2018
BY Joanna Hunt

Last week the Scottish Court of Session agreed to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg to determine whether the UK’s notice that it is leaving the EU under Article 50 can be cancelled. The case, formally known as Wightman & Others v Secretary of...

26th September 2018
BY Iain Halliday

In C-369/17 Ahmed, the Court of Justice of the European Union has held that member states must take account of all the circumstances of the crime committed by an individual before deciding that it is a “serious crime” which justifies excluding that person from subsidiary protection. What is subsidiary protection...

19th September 2018
BY Alex Schymyck

Today’s Migration Advisory Committee recommendations are incredibly significant from a UK employer’s perspective. I can immediately see that a huge number of UK employers are likely to be faced with potentially significant new administrative burdens if the recommendations are implemented. The vast majority of UK employers have little or nothing to...

18th September 2018
BY Nichola Carter

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published its long-awaited research into migration from the EU and how it should be managed after Brexit. The report will disappoint advocates of a fairly liberal regime, recommending as it does that if there is no specific agreement with the EU on migration, there...

18th September 2018
BY CJ McKinney

Last week the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the UK’s approach to the Worker Registration Scheme in force between 2004 and 2011 for citizens of new EU countries. The case is C-618/16 Prefeta v UK. The judgment in effect endorses the Home Office view that time spent working in...

17th September 2018
BY Colin Yeo

It is one thing when the state seeks to withdraw a permission or privilege. It is a very different matter when it seeks to interfere with an individual’s rights. Privileges are precarious. In the absence of good reason to the contrary, rights should be secure. This emphatic opening line comes...

14th September 2018
BY Bilaal Shabbir

If negotiations on an orderly withdrawal from the European Union break down completely, the UK risks a “chaotic Brexit” on 29 March 2019, with no overall withdrawal agreement in place nor any smaller deals to mitigate the shock of a no deal outcome. Both the UK and EU27 could take...

7th September 2018
BY The UK in a Changing Europe

The “Surinder Singh route” has become well known to British citizens seeking to be reunited with their family members. The toughening up of UK immigration rules in July 2012 – particularly the introduction of the minimum income rule with its labyrinthine documentary requirements, and the awful elderly dependent relative rules...

31st August 2018
BY Colin Yeo

With the Article 50 deadline fast approaching, there has been growing concern that the UK will leave the European Union with “no deal”. If no withdrawal agreement making provision for a transition period is reached by 29 March 2019, the UK will fall out of the EU without an agreement...

30th August 2018
BY Iain Halliday

The Upper Tribunal has ruled that the term “worker” in the regulations concerning the rights of residence retained by non-EEA nationals if they divorce their EEA spouse includes jobseekers. This means that when someone who has given up work during marriage gets divorced from an EU citizen they will still...

23rd August 2018
BY Alex Schymyck

Kovacevic (British citizen – Art 21 TFEU) Croatia [2018] UKUT 273 (IAC) is about whether EU free movement law protects dual nationals (i.e. someone who is a citizen of the UK and another EU country) who have never exercised their EU free movement rights. The Upper Tribunal ruled that a...

21st August 2018
BY Alex Schymyck

The Home Office has confirmed that Irish citizens living in the UK are considered “settled” for the purposes of immigration law. The department said that officials in individual cases who had denied that Irish citizens were settled as soon as they took up residence in the UK were wrong to...

8th August 2018
BY CJ McKinney

Macastena v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 1558 highlights the difference between extended family members’ rights and family members’ rights under EU law, as well as the extent of the tribunal’s statutory remit. Page contentsBackground to the caseTime in durable relationship doesn’t count towards permanent...

24th July 2018
BY Sairah Javed

Afzal v East London Pizza Ltd (t/a Dominos Pizza) (Rev 1) [2018] UKEAT 0265_17_1304 is a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. It touches on the vexed issue of an employee continuing to work while awaiting a decision from the Home Office on an immigration application. From an immigration law perspective,...

13th July 2018
BY John Vassiliou

Two years after the referendum vote to leave the European Union, the government has published a White Paper describing what it wants from the future relationship between the UK and EU. The 100-page document includes some references to the future of immigration from the EU, but only in certain, limited...

12th July 2018
BY CJ McKinney

The unmarried partner of a British citizen who returns to the UK having resided in another EU country does have rights under EU law, the Court of Justice of the European Union has today held in the case of C‑89/17 Banger v UK. The court also finds that if such a person...

12th July 2018
BY Colin Yeo

The latest, and presumably last, amendments to the EEA Regulations were laid before Parliament on 3 July 2018. The Immigration (European Economic Area) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018 No. 801) will come into force on 24 July 2018. Implementing a number of cases decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union,...

11th July 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

The right of free movement for EU migrants could be replaced with something more like the arrangements making travel easier for Canadian business people, the Home Secretary has said. Sajid Javid told the Home Affairs committee of MPs today that free movement will end after Brexit, “full stop”, and repeatedly...

10th July 2018
BY CJ McKinney

In the case of R (Wandzel) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Rev 1) [2018] EWHC 1371 (Admin), Nigel Poole QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, had to deal with the effect of the famous case of Kiarie and Byndloss (discussed on Free Movement here) for deportation cases...

15th June 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

Baigazieva v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 1088 is about what happens to a non-EEA citizen spouse if they divorce their EEA citizen partner. Article 13(2) of the Citizens Rights Directive 2004 lays down a set of criteria on how the non-EEA citizen can retain...

14th June 2018
BY Alex Schymyck

The recent case of Inga Lockton is the most high-profile recent example of growing problems that EU citizens and their families face with applying for British citizenship. Ms Lockton lived in the UK for 39 years, was married to a British citizen and had British children. She was elected a...

14th June 2018
BY Colin Yeo

I was appalled to see Saturday’s footage of the violence directed against the police in central London by protesters demonstrating against the imprisonment of Tommy Robinson, the far-right activist jailed for contempt of court last month. The police were outnumbered and had to retreat, a baying mob pursuing them. I...

12th June 2018
BY Darren Stevenson

The Court of Session has refused to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg to determine whether the UK’s notice that it is leaving the EU under Article 50 can be cancelled. Given that the subject matter involved “the most contentious and political debate...

11th June 2018
BY Iain Halliday

Today marked a big step in the advancement of the rights of same-sex couples. Following a reference made to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by the Romanian Constitutional Court, the CJEU has ruled that “spouses” in Directive 2004/38 include same-sex spouses. The case is C-673/16 Relu Adrian Coman and Others...

5th June 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

On 14 February 2018 the Home Affairs committee of MPs published a rather critical report on the Home Office delivery of Brexit, which Nick promptly summarised in a post at the time. The government’s response to the report was published on 25 May. A lot of it is not news, but rather a...

5th June 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

Today the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down a decision in the case of C-647/16 Adil Hassan v Prefet du Pas-de-Calais concerning the Dublin III Regulation. The press summary is here. Practitioners will be well aware how intricate and complex the provisions of the Dublin III regulations are. Essentially,...

31st May 2018
BY Bilaal Shabbir

In Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v HD (CHB) (Second interim decision) [2018] UKUT 148 (AAC), the Upper Tribunal decided to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The question is whether an EU national who was self-employed before pregnancy and childbirth can rely on C-507/12...

22nd May 2018
BY Desmond Rutledge

Fresh out of the Court of Justice of the European Union is the interesting case of C-82/16 K.A. & Others v Belgium. A significant part of the decision deals with the 2008 Returns Directive, which does not apply to the UK. The remainder of the court’s judgment deals with the issue of...

11th May 2018
BY Bilaal Shabbir

The enhanced protection in Article 28(3) of Directive 2004/38/EC — that a person may only be expelled on “imperative grounds of public security” if they have resided in a member state for ten years prior to the decision to expel them — benefits only those who have satisfied the eligibility...

9th May 2018
BY Alison Harvey

In Ryanair v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 899 the budget airline, no stranger to litigation, challenged the imposition of a £2,000 fine on it for carrying a man from Germany to the UK who, said the Secretary of State, had failed to produce the...

1st May 2018
BY Alison Harvey

The default position when EU law no longer applies in the UK is to render EU citizens unlawfully resident. The proposed “settled status” scheme has been designed to prevent this, but perhaps its defining characteristic when compared with the rights available under EU law is that it does not come...

27th April 2018
BY Colin Yeo

On 10 April 2018, Advocate General Bobek delivered his Opinion in C-89/17 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Banger, following a reference made to the Court of Justice of the European Union, by the former President of the Upper Tribunal, McCloskey J. There were four questions referred to...

19th April 2018
BY Sanaz Saifolahi

Six months after the release of the Advocate General’s non-binding Opinion in the joined cases of C-316/16 B v Land Baden-Württemberg and C-424/16 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Franco Vomero, the Court of Justice of the European Union has today handed down its final judgment. The case revolved around the interpretation of article 28(3)(a) of Directive 2004/38/EC:...

17th April 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

An EU citizen with indefinite leave to remain in this country has taken the drastic step to leave the UK because of Brexit. You might have seen the story on Twitter, where it went viral. 24/ So my mum has taken the decision to return to the country of her...

11th April 2018
BY Chris Desira

Back in July 2015, the Upper Tribunal delivered a puzzling judgment in the case of R (Bilal Ahmed) v SSHD (EEA/s 10 appeal rights: effect (IJR) [2015] UKUT 436 (IAC). The nub of the decision was that where the Secretary of State refuses an application on the basis that the...

6th April 2018
BY Bilaal Shabbir
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