Immigration roundup podcast: February 2024

Your February roundup is here as promised. Colin and I discuss Shamima Begum’s latest appeal, the pause on some asylum cases, a run of decisions involving poor conduct on the part of either the Tribunals or the Home Office, as well as corporate transactions, the sudden closure of the Ukraine...

11th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Past webinars Missed one of our live webinars and need to catch up? Several weeks after the original event, we release selected recordings of previous webinars which we make available for purchase for the same cost as the original. We omit the final Q&A with the trainer from recorded versions....

8th March 2024
BY Colin Yeo

A guidance change made in July 2023 is affecting the ability of the new-born babies of refugees to obtain refugee status. This is an issue that affects a limited group of people, namely those who have been granted refugee leave for five years, and have a child born in the...

8th March 2024
BY Stewart MacLachlan

Our monthly update course is available to Free Movement members. It is based on the articles we’ve published over the last month and on our immigration law update podcast. If you are not already a member, you can join here and access not just this course but all of our courses. Membership starts...

7th March 2024
BY Jasmine Quiller-Doust

This month Sonia and Colin cover Shamima Begum’s latest appeal, the pause on some asylum cases, a run of decisions involving poor conduct on the part of either the Tribunals or the Home Office, as well as corporate transactions, the sudden closure of the Ukraine Family scheme and much more....

7th March 2024
BY Jasmine Quiller-Doust

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7th March 2024
BY Free Movement

This is another successful challenge from a former Afghan judge who was unlawfully excluded from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme (ARAP). The case is MP1, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Defence [2024] EWHC 410 (Admin). Background MP1 worked as a criminal defence lawyer...

7th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Your Webinar Recordings Below you can access your webinar recording purchases. View Upcoming Training Other Trainings Available

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6th March 2024
BY matt@meltdesign.co.uk

This is our write up of the first of the Home Secretary’s recent dump of the much delayed reports from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. The one point I will make from the outset is that anyone who is working on Albanian claims should read the relevant...

6th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

CLOSING DATE: 2ND APRIL 2024 £33,000 – £36,000 (pro-rata) depending on qualifications + 6% pension Pay grades: OISC level 2 – £33k, OISC level 3/solicitor – £36k Contract: Permanent, 35 hours/week (applications from those seeking part-time working will be considered) LRMN is looking for enthusiastic and passionate immigration advisors accredited to OISC Level 2 or above […]

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6th March 2024
BY Free Movement

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! It was Frantic Maths Day on Thursday and while in the midst of it all I went to look at my write up of the last statistics release from November last year. It was quite a jolt to see that I had written there that two people had...

5th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Kalayaan, a small but mighty charity that works to provide advice, advocacy and support services in the UK for migrant domestic workers have recently updated their 2023 report on the state of the system for identifying victims of modern slavery, with 2024’s National Referral Mechanism: Near Breaking Point. The particular...

5th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In FGF v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Appeal No: SN/01/2022 the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has concluded that it has the power to award costs in reviews, in certain circumstances. Background FGF applied for naturalisation as a British citizen on 27 January 2020. The Home Secretary refused...

5th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

A few days before the two-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK government announced a series of sweeping changes to the Ukraine schemes, giving just four hours’ notice of their implementation. Among the most significant changes are the closure of the Ukraine Family Scheme, and a new...

4th March 2024
BY Dmitri Macmillen

Rainbow Migration, the longest-running charity in Europe dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system, is recruiting a Legal Officer to advise and help improve the representation of LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum, and help change the asylum and immigration system to one that treats everyone with compassion,...

4th March 2024
BY Free Movement

Following a request from the Chairs of the Public Accounts and Home Affairs Committees, the National Audit Office has published a report on the costs to date of setting up the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda. The report also looks at the basis on which future costs would...

1st March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

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 Court of Appeal has gone to town on a First-tier Tribunal decision for the second time in as many weeks, this time allowing an appeal in an asylum claim from an Iranian national. The case is FA (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ...

29th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Vacancies: Paralegals/ Caseworkers We are looking to take on up to four immigration paralegals/caseworkers to join the fee earning team at Luqmani Thompson. This offer is for a fixed 12-month contract and is subject to a 3-month probationary period. The role is office based. We offer a competitive salary (£23,000...

29th February 2024
BY Free Movement

The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that the Home Secretary’s “Discretionary Leave” guidance, version 10, published on 16 March 2023 is unlawful to the extent that it excludes victims of trafficking who had been accepted by the Home Office to be a victim before 30 January 2023 and had, before that...

28th February 2024
BY Eva Maria Doerr

Last week we published a briefing on the legal changes to the criminalisation of people seeking asylum in the UK and a new report “No Such Thing as Justice Here” looks at the impact these changes have had in practice. The report is published by the Centre for Criminology at the...

27th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

First of all, a huge thank you and congratulations to all those who worked so hard on their responses to the Review of Civil Legal Aid call for evidence, which closed last week. I promise this isn’t one of those situations where I am subtly trying to communicate that I’ve...

27th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Colin and I have rounded up January 2024. We cover the government’s claims to have cleared the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog and look at the three backlogs that have replaced it. We discuss the latest in an increasingly long list of cases in which the Home Office has behaved poorly. Also...

27th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Migration Advisory Committee has completed the rapid review of the shortage occupation list that it was commissioned to carry out in late January and has recommended that 21 occupations are included on the new immigration salary list. The government has already announced that a statement of changes will be...

26th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal from Shamima Begum challenging the Special Immigration Appeals Commission’s decision that the deprivation of her British citizenship was lawful. I recommend reading Colin’s write up of that SIAC decision. This decision is Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024]...

26th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Our monthly update course is available to Free Movement members. It is based on the articles we’ve published over the last month and on our immigration law update podcast. If you are not already a member, you can join here and access not just this course but all of our courses. Membership starts...

23rd February 2024
BY Jasmine Quiller-Doust

This month Sonia and Colin cover the government’s claims to have cleared the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog and look at the three backlogs that have replaced it. They discuss gender-based asylum claims, the new rules for business visitors and care homes who have lost and managed to keep their sponsor licences....

23rd February 2024
BY Jasmine Quiller-Doust

  JOB TITLE:  Immigration, Asylum & Protection Caseworker (Asylum Aid) LOCATION:  Asylum Aid Office (London) RESPONSIBLE TO:  Immigration Supervisor CONTRACT:  Permanent, full time (37.5 hours) SALARY:  £34,000 p.a. BENEFITS:  27 days holiday plus 4% matched pension contribution START DATE:  April 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter   ABOUT ASYLUM AID...

23rd February 2024
BY Free Movement

In the latest case challenging a decision made under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy, the High Court has quashed the refusal decision on the basis that it was not supported by the evidence that had been provided in support of the application. The case is R (MA) v Secretary...

23rd February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Although now largely eclipsed by the Illegal Migration Act 2023, the Nationality and Borders Act 2022’s legacy will be its criminalisation of the act of seeking asylum in the UK. This article aims to give an overview of the changes to the law. Entry vs arrival By way of background,...

22nd February 2024
BY Larry Lock

We previously covered the High Court’s decision that routine redactions of junior civil servants’ names in judicial review disclosure was unlawful, and the Court of Appeal has now agreed with that in R (IAB and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Levelling...

21st February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The Home Office has announced that Ukrainians who are here under one of the existing schemes will be “permitted to extend their visa”. This process will require an application, and that process will only open early next year. In the meantime, people will continue to...

20th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

While not natural bedfellows, business immigration lawyers are finding themselves increasingly immersed in the world of corporate transactions, thanks to the rise in the number of businesses holding sponsor licences. An important principle of sponsorship is that a sponsor licence is not transferable. This means that it is given to...

20th February 2024
BY Joanna Hunt

As trailed previously, a statement of changes has been published today removing the rights of care workers to bring dependants to the UK. What was not mentioned in advance was that this statement of changes would also close the Ukraine Family Scheme with immediate effect (from 3pm 19 February 2024),...

19th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Since 31 January 2024, victims of transnational marriage abandonment can apply for a visa to return to the UK. This follows the landmark case of R on the application of AM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 2591 (Admin). This post looks at how to make an...

19th February 2024
BY Nath Gbikpi

We are looking for an experienced Immigration Solicitor. This is an opportunity to join a highly successful, creative and dynamic immigration team. Islington Law Centre has a much-respected Immigration Team.  We are a category 1 Legal Aid Immigration provider and we have considerable experience across the range of immigration work...

19th February 2024
BY Free Movement

The Home Office has made changes to the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession by publishing new guidance and a new application form today. There is a new acronym for practitioners to learn as the concession has been re-branded as the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC). The big change is...

16th February 2024
BY Nicole Masri

The latest in a rash of recent cases displaying poor behaviour on the part of the Home Office is R (Amena El-Ashkar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department JR-2022-LON-002069. This is a decision on an application by the Home Secretary to withdraw undertakings that had been provided to...

16th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Having presumably learned from their much criticised mishandling of certain trafficking cases, the government published a statement yesterday stating that they have paused consideration of asylum claims from a certain group. Those affected are people who arrived on or after 1 January 2022 and who received a notice of intent before...

15th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Advances IAAS Accredited Immigration Caseworker (Level 3) to join as Joint Head of Immigration Department and IAAS Senior Caseworker (level 2) Thompson & Co. Solicitors Ltd offers diverse expertise in a wider range of practice areas, including but not limited to immigration, asylum, and human rights law. We hold legal...

15th February 2024
BY Free Movement
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