The date has finally been announced for transfer of fresh claim judicial reviews into the Upper Tribunal: 1 October 2011. This has been coming for some time and seems to have been held up by some confusion over the effect of BA (Nigeria).

Section 53 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 will be commenced on that date and it rather looks like the necessary order under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 will also be made on or soon after then. However, this will only be in respect of judicial reviews lodged in England and Wales. It will not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland, at least initially. There is an increasing legal divergence in immigration matters between England and Wales and Scotland.

There will also probably be a consultation on whether there needs to be a change to the Upper Tribunal procedure rules to incorporate the new tranche of work.