All Articles: history
Sophia of Hanover and the most obscure route to British nationality of them all
British citizenship by descent is underpinned by the principle of jus sanguinis (“right of blood”). This allows citizenship to be passed down “through the blood” to the first generation of children born abroad. Subsequent gener ...
3rd March 2021Pioneering immigration judge Hugo Storey retires
Hugo Storey had his last day as a judge on 30 September, having reached the statutory retirement age of 75. The established place the Upper Tribunal now has in the UK judicial system and its high reputation abroad owes much to Hugo’s pioneering ro ...
2nd October 2020Windrush: learning about history, learning from history
Recommendation 6 – The Home Office should: a) devise, implement and review a comprehensive learning and development programme which makes sure all its existing and new staff learn about the history of the UK and its relationship with the rest of the ...
8th July 2020Race, racism and immigration in the United Kingdom: Black Lives Matter
The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers has shone a light on the ongoing difference in the treatment of black and white citizens in the United States. It is right and proper to think also about racism here in the United Kingdom. As ...
10th June 2020Wesley Gryk retires: end of a “queer career”
On 13 October 1997, the new Labour government published a document on family visas. It was called the Concession Outside the Immigration Rules for unmarried partners and it was a legal landmark. The concession allowed certain foreigners in the UK to a ...
12th May 2020Book review: (B)ordering Britain by Nadine El-Enany
In (B)ordering Britain: Law, Race and Empire, published last week by Manchester University Press, Nadine El-Enany argues that British nationality and immigration laws are acts of colonial theft. Having expropriated untold wealth from the countries com ...
18th February 2020Ian Macdonald QC: A personal reminiscence by Sir Nicholas Blake
Recent accounts of Ian’s life have brought more detail of his early years and his robust defence tactics at trial such as those of the Mangrove defendants. Whilst those paying tribute have acknowledged him as the father of British immigration law, ...
9th January 2020Briefing: what is the ‘right of abode’ in UK immigration and nationality law?
As I was reviewing John Vassiliou’s excellent piece on Hong Kongers with British National Overseas status last week, I realised that we’ve never put together an explainer on the right of abode. A quick Google search showed up no great expl ...
18th September 2019The interregnum: 11 years without free movement from 1962 to 1973
There was a short period of just 11 years between 1962 and 1973 when free movement of people did not apply in the UK. Other than during that time, businesses and public services have had easy access to workers from other countries. Following Brexit, t ...
19th May 2017Sir Nicholas Winton and the bygone tradition of refugee welcome
Sir Nicholas Winton, who as a young stockbroker in 1939 organised the rescue of 669 children from Nazi concentration camps, died yesterday age 106. The children he saved were carried by train from Nazi-occupied Prague. The final train did not get out ...
2nd July 2015