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 developme ...

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 t ...

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 t ...

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 ...

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, a ...

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 t ...

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 Gard ...

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 ...

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-ordinat ...

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. ...

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’ ef ...

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

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 immigratio ...

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. ...

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 ...

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 Co ...

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 b ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 lawyer ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 b ...

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 asyl ...

I’ve been asked to give a mention to the Migration Museum Project and am delighted to do so. I enjoyed my visit to the Museum of Immigration in Melbourne and the 19 Princelet Street project in Spitalfields is excellent but can necessarily only o ...

The team behind the iLegal legislation app for iPhones and iPads has been kind enough to provide me with a review copy and I’ve had it running for nearly a week now. It is simple but effective little app that in essence provides an offline versi ...

The union at RMJ is organising a demonstration outside the Ministry of Justice tomorrow. See you there? It is ages since I’ve been to a demonstration. I think the last one may have been at Campsfield when I was a student. Demonstrate Against Lik ...

I have received the following email and I’m happy to bring it to the attention of readers: I am writing to alert you the recent publication of Driven from Home: Protecting the Rights of Forced Migrants by David Hollenbach, SJ, a book that may b ...

Free Movement has been asked to highlight the I ? MIGRANTS campaign and upcoming launch event and is very happy to do so. The campaign is run by JCWI and the launch event is at the Foundry Club in Old Street, East London on Thursday, April 29. I quote ...

I’ve been to a couple of AGMs in the last couple of weeks — Hammersmith and Fulham Community Law Centre and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association — and have learned all sorts of interesting things. Only some of which I will s ...

On Thursday the Immigration Law Practitioners Association celebrated its 25th anniversary, just down the corridor of power from the Westminster committee room where the first meeting was held on 9th July 1984. The current Director, Alison Harvey, did ...

I noticed in the policy feed in the left panel on this blog that there was an item about the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ). I clicked through and found some interesting papers have just been posted on their website from a co ...

I’ve just been looking at the Transpondia website. I first came across it a few months ago when they posted a link to Free Movement, but the site seemed a lot smaller then. There is now (maybe there was then and I just didn’t see it) a mas ...

I went to a debate and discussion at the Royal Society of Arts on Tuesday and it proved interesting. The politicians, John Denham, Jon Cruddas and Barbara Roche, all Labour, were fairly predictable and followed the normal approach of politicians ever ...