A damning report on healthcare and safeguarding in detention has concluded that the existing protocols for vulnerable detainees are “totally and utterly flawed”. The Medical Justice report Harmed not Heard focuses on the inadequacy of the Rule 35 safeguarding process, designed to identify vulnerable detainees for release. The research comes...
People having problems with their application to the EU Settlement Scheme or issues proving their status have one main point of contact with the Home Office: the EUSS helpline. The Home Office has now revealed that this valuable resource has been failing people, with only 44% of calls getting through...
The Home Office issues Country Policy and Information Notes (CPINs) on the main countries that asylum seekers come from to seek protection in the United Kingdom. CPINs aim both to summarise country of origin information and to provide guidance to asylum caseworkers on how to decide certain types of refugee...
Much has changed about the way asylum appeals in the First-tier Tribunal operate this year. But research spanning 2013 to 2019 indicates that a reliably fair and effective asylum appeal system was some way off even before the pandemic hit. Today the University of Exeter and Public Law Project released...
Reports by the US Department of State on the human rights situation in different countries are heavily relied upon throughout the world in the assessment of asylum claims. Asylum Research Centre’s (ARC) new research identifies serious omissions and inadequately substantiated reports of improvements in country reports produced under the Trump administration....
Digital-only residence permits could make it harder for migrants to access vital services like jobs and housing, a new report warns. Landlords and employers used to physical passports and residence permits may discriminate against migrants whose proof of immigration status only exists online, according to the Public Law Project. Millions...
Like many other jurisdictions, the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) has been forced to change how it works as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. First, HM Courts and Tribunals Service made expanded use of an online procedure which it was already piloting as part of ongoing digital reforms....
An incorrect decision under the EU Settlement Scheme could impact the terms by which EU citizens and their family members are able to reside and access services in the UK after Brexit. Statistics we have retrieved on administrative reviews of Settlement Scheme decisions show that 89.5% of initial decisions reviewed...
As the outcome of the latest Brexit negotiations are still uncertain — and with 31 October less than one month away – the latest research update from the Public Law Project (PLP) shows that EU citizens would still lack statutory protection for their rights in the event of a ‘no-deal’...
Yesterday afternoon, the Home Affairs committee of MPs had before it a selection of the nation’s newspaper editors. The subject of questioning: “whether there is an issue with treatment of minority groups in the print media”. Anyone who has glanced at the headlines about immigration over the past decade or...
New research shows that the immigration insecurity of one family member now affects whole families, including children and citizens who are not themselves subject to immigration control, writes Dr Melanie Griffiths of the University of Bristol. This week, the University of Bristol published three policy briefings arising from new research examining...
A new report helps fill some of the gaps in our understanding of the situation facing young men sent back to Afghanistan, writes Maya Pritchard of Asylos. While we await the outcome of AS (Afghanistan), the country guidance case currently before the Upper Tribunal addressing the safety of Kabul, for...
New research helps practitioners identify best practice in representing female asylum seekers writes Debora Singer MBE, Senior Policy Adviser at Asylum Aid. What do women who have been through the asylum appeals process think of their legal representative? I liked the last experience … everyone was so positive … we’re...
The Home Office have published a new piece of research they commissioned, entitled Marriage-related migration to the UK, by Katharine Charsley, Nicholas Van Hear, Michaela Benson and Brooke Storer-Church. It makes very interesting reading for anyone interested in immigration policy and in the history of spousal immigration. There are a...
