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The ninth edition of Macdonald’s Immigration Law and Practice is now available for purchase. Fully updated with material on the Immigration Act 2014 and much, much more, this is an essential text for any serious immigration lawyer. You can pick up a copy here (affiliate link, and also I am...

24th April 2015
BY Colin Yeo

Fun video from Legal Aid Team making a very serious point: I particularly enjoyed Lord Chancellor Graying, his smug civil service henchman and the LawyerBots. You can sign the petition here… or try voting on 7 May 2015.

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14th April 2015
BY Colin Yeo

JCWI has set up an excellent crowd funding campaign to run posters across the UK showcasing migrants and their invaluable contribution to British life. I’ve backed it and I urge all readers of Free Movement to do likewise. There are only 18 days to run so you need to hurry. The...

6th February 2015
BY Colin Yeo

As the darkness outside gathered, the candles inside the church seemed to burn more brightly. Hundreds had gathered at St Martins-in-the-Fields in London yesterday to commemorate Helen Bamber OBE and her work. The event was moving and inspiring but was in equal measure disturbing and challenging.

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27th January 2015
BY Colin Yeo

Last night I was invited to the launch for a new practitioner text edited by Eric Fripp, The Law and Practice of Expulsion and Exclusion from the United Kingdom: Deportation, Removal, Exclusion and Deprivation of Citizenship. There were a number of excellent speakers lined up and so I thought I’d take...

21st January 2015
BY Colin Yeo

My ebook on costs in immigration cases is now available for purchase. It covers costs in statutory appeals and in judicial review cases, case law on unreasonable conduct, the law on wasted costs, costs for litigants in person, the circumstances where costs might be awarded in an immigration context, a...

19th January 2015
BY Colin Yeo

The Free Movement January sale ends this Friday, 16 January 2015. New content has just been added for members, so sign up now to get access to over 30 CPD hours of invaluable training materials. Use code JANSALE to get 25% off individual membership and 50% off ebooks. The new...

13th January 2015
BY Colin Yeo

Want to know who might qualify as a refugee? What the legal requirements are? What reasons the Home Office relies on to refuse cases and what counter arguments are available? Who might be excluded from refugee status? I have just finished a new ebook, this time on refugee law in...

30th October 2014
BY Colin Yeo

Looks interesting: “The UK is like the Holy Grail and they’re all expecting the crusades. We have to give it to them.” Laurence loves to go out, get wrecked and rave to dubstep. He pays for it with a job at UK Immigration Control. Deciding who does or doesn’t get...

29th August 2014
BY Colin Yeo

Just a quick post to say that I’ve finished an ebook on Surinder Singh: EU free movement for British citizens. It covers how EU law works, goes over the judgments in Surinder Singh and O v Netherlands, examines the UK’s regulations and Home Office policy, considers the question of abuse...

30th July 2014
BY Colin Yeo

Sign up now as a Free Movement Member and get a free Immigration Act 2014 ebook! Free Movement Membership starts at £50 plus VAT per person for groups of 10 or more and is available to all. Membership includes access to the forums and is a cheap and convenient way...

30th June 2014
BY Colin Yeo

In partnership with Legal Action Group, Garden Court Chambers’ Public Law Team is pleased to present an up-to-date overview of all aspects of public law, together with cutting-edge strategies for securing positive outcomes. Click image for full details and programme.

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21st June 2014
BY Garden Court Chambers

This film looks interesting, and I’ve agreed to participate in a panel discussion beforehand, it being literally just round the corner from where I live in East Finchley. Full details and tickets here.

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18th June 2014
BY Colin Yeo

The difference between a recession and a boom, as any legal aid lawyer will tell you, is that during a boom the government cuts legal aid, whereas during a recession they cut everything else as well. There was a timely reminder yesterday from President of the Supreme Court Lord Neuberger...

17th October 2013
BY Greg Ó Ceallaigh

From The Guardian write up: Casting you as a border guard for a fictitious eastern European republic, your job is to decide whether a succession of would-be immigrants have the right paperwork to get through. Presented in charming 8-bit style, it’s all good fun to start with, but the longer...

13th October 2013
BY Colin Yeo

I first met Zahir when he transferred to the United Kingdom Immigrants Advice Service (UKIAS) office in Manchester in 1974. I often recall sitting in his office discussing cases, seeking his expert advice and telling him of our plans for the development of the offices in the North. Sadly UKIAS...

7th October 2013
BY Rheba Glazier

The latest issue of Forced Migration Review, Issue 44 on Detention, alternatives to detention and deportation, has been made available for free. It is a huge issue with a range of really interesting looking articles. As well as covering the headline themes, there are also several articles on Syria and...

24th September 2013
BY Colin Yeo

The UK is a party to and has ratified both of the Statelessness Conventions. However, until recently there has been inconsistency in approach to those asylum (and other) applicants who are without a nationality, and often a failure to record or even to even notice that there is an issue...

20th September 2013
BY Free Movement

Family lawyers and courts are blazing a bit of a trail with use of Skype technology for hearing low cost evidence from abroad. In the recently reported case of Re ML (Use of Skype Technology) [2013] EWHC 2091 (Fam) Mr Justice Peter Jackson reports on two recent uses of Skype for...

18th September 2013
BY Colin Yeo

A special free edition of the journal Judicial Review, published by Hart, also publishers of Michael ‘Avocado of Justice‘ Fordham’s brilliant Judicial Review Handbook. The special edition focusses on the proposed legal aid changes, an announcement on which is expected soon.

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2nd September 2013
BY Colin Yeo

Really useful and concise best practice guide for country experts in asylum and immigration cases in the United Kingdom by Anthony Good and Tobias Kelly. Immigration lawyers would be well advised routinely to provide this to their experts. It covers the legal framework including the practice direction on expert evidence,...

28th August 2013
BY Colin Yeo

On Wednesday evening, a group of activists, lawyers and campaigners gathered in East London to discuss the Government’s ‘Go Home’ campaign and to demonstrate their solidarity with immigrant and refugee communities. The event was attended by Garden Court’s Marketing Assistant, Amy Carrington.

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27th August 2013
BY Amy Carrington

Kent Martin is a regular and long time Free Movement reader and sent this in for the blog. I thought it made an interesting contrast to the absence of positive media coverage in this country. I’m an Australian/Brit who has spent over a decade in both countries and have been...

7th August 2013
BY Colin Yeo

Last week saw the anniversary of the miserable new family immigration rules, introduced on 9 July 2012. Heartache and anguish was predicted and has, tragically, come to pass. I attended and spoke at the demonstration outside the Home Office co-ordinated by JCWI, MRN, Brit Cits and others. It was, frankly,...

16th July 2013
BY Colin Yeo

European Asylum Information Database A well designed and useful new resource website from ECRE and partners offering comparisons between different European asylum procedures, reception conditions and detention policies.

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12th July 2013
BY Free Movement

As most of you know, Renaissance Chambers has developed expertise in conducting Tamil asylum claims.  The issues involved in these cases have been previously covered on Free Movement here and these include in particular Chambers’ and the NGOs’ efforts to combat recent charter flights set by the UK Border Agency...

13th May 2013
BY Sarah Pinder

Comprehensive list of LASPO resources From the Legal Aid Handbook people, brand new edition available to buy now.

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30th April 2013
BY Free Movement

I recently twisted Margaret Phelan’s arm into arranging for me to receive a Kindle copy of the latest (and greatest) edition Phelan and Gillespie’s Immigration Law Handbook, known to all immigration lawyers as the bench book for immigration law. I am well accustomed to thumbing through the hard copy version...

24th April 2013
BY Colin Yeo

Hard copy left, Kindle right (buying via these links throws me a very small bungreferral fee) Amazon doesn’t yet have an image but for those wondering about this year’s colour, it is a bit like the 2003 model but a slightly mintier green. Early reviews: “It would have been a...

6th February 2013
BY Free Movement

The charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) asked me to speak at their AGM last night and I was delighted to accept. It was held at Amnesty International’s Human Rights Action Centre in Shoreditch. I expected the auditorium seating to split open and launch Urgent Action One at any moment....

23rd January 2013
BY Free Movement

The publishers, Sweet & Maxwell, have been kind enough to provide a review copy of the 2nd edition of Free Movement of Persons in the Enlarged European Union by Nicola Rogers, Rick Scannell and John Walsh. Nicola and Rick are formerly of Garden Court Chambers and recently retired from the...

25th October 2012
BY Colin Yeo

I came across the European Database of Asylum Law (EDAL) yesterday (hat tip to the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter (FRLAN)) and thought it was worth sharing with readers. It is funded by the European Commission’s European Refugee Fund and run by the Irish Refugee Council and ECRE in partnership. The...

3rd October 2012
BY Colin Yeo

As in previous years, a team from Renaissance Chambers is today undertaking the London Legal Walk and seeks sponsorship. We provide this blog free of charge but if you would like to support our cause we would be grateful. Follow this link to do so. I myself, shamefully, will not...

21st May 2012
BY Free Movement

Following on from last year’s seasonal leak, Free Movement can exclusively reveal a new secret Government proposal designed to cut down on abuse of human rights laws and reduce family immigration into the United Kingdom. The new proposal is said to have originated at the highest level because it was...

22nd December 2011
BY Free Movement

Just a quick one to flag up that HJT Training is running a series of skills workshops with the excellent and inspiring Julian Bild as the trainer. Julian, formerly of RLC, Wilson and Co, Tyrer Roxburgh and IAS, has trained countless immigration lawyers in the last few years. I used...

19th November 2011
BY Free Movement

The Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) have substantially re-vamped their website. It is a huge improvement on the old one. The public-facing site is basically the same as the old one but looks better and more modern. A new facility for members of ILPA to log into a members area...

22nd August 2011
BY Free Movement

The previously mentioned Migration Museum Project ‘100 Images of Migration‘ competition deadline has been extended to 15 July 2011. I have been given permission to use the image to the side as an example of one of the entries. A woman born in Britain holds the only two possessions her...

1st July 2011
BY Free Movement

Quick plug for a new publication from the Immigration Law Practitioners Association, to which I contributed a chapter. It is called Working with Refugee Children: Current Issues in Best Practice and can be downloaded for free from the ILPA website or requested from ILPA in hard copy. The launch was...

24th May 2011
BY Free Movement

Quick heads up for an interesting post by Mark Symes on the HJT Training blog. In the recent case of Amos v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWCA Civ 552 (12 May 2011) the Court of Appeal rejected the argument that there is a shared burden between...

20th May 2011
BY Free Movement

The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture (shortly to become Freedom From Torture, is launching a very interesting sounding new report entitled Body of evidence: treatment of medico-legal reports for survivors of torture in the UK asylum system. The launch event is on 24 May 2011 at...

12th May 2011
BY Free Movement
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