On the face of it, refugee status and humanitarian protection seem like two sides of the same coin. Both are a form of international protection granted to a person in need. They give most of the same rights to work, study and access benefits. But as w ...

The government has announced the details of its much-trailed policy of treating some refugees differently to others based on their mode of arrival in the United Kingdom. The Home Office refers to this as “differentiation” but the word ...

The Upper Tribunal has rejected a challenge to the Article 8 compliance of the “deport first, appeal later” system despite previously having ordered the Home Office to bring the claimant back to the UK to ensure he had an effective appeal. ...

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 was signed into law on 28 April 2022. But there is a difference between a law being “on the statute books” after being passed by Parliament and it actually being “in force”. As we explain be ...

After five years with Free Movement, CJ McKinney is, sadly, moving on for a new job at the House of Commons Library. He started here as deputy editor in 2017 and was promoted to editor in 2021. His final day will be Friday 22 July. I’ll be putt ...

The High Court has declared that Home Office policy on allowing migrants to have access to public funds is unlawful for failing to take account of the best interests of children, or of a previous judgment along similar lines. The case is R (AB & o ...

New rules on humanitarian protection status will apply to claims made on or after 28 June 2022. The changes are another example of how the government’s New Plan for Immigration is creating a crueller, less efficient and more costly asylum system. Ar ...

Asylum lawyers like me tend to focus on just one clause of the Refugee Convention: the definition of a refugee. This is the gateway to formal recognition as a refugee and is therefore of vital importance to any person seeking asylum. From this definit ...

Many in the immigration and legal aid sectors are heartily sick of “engaging” with government departments and responding to various consultations, but I want to encourage everyone to respond to this one. The Ministry of Justice is consulti ...

The United Kingdom’s asylum system has been described by the current Home Secretary as “broken”. There is some truth in that statement. In many ways, the asylum system is now in a parlous state. What the Home Secretary does not say i ...

This week is Refugee Week. On Free Movement we try to communicate complex legal issues in immigration and asylum law in a clear way. Here we answer the question “what is a refugee?” We answer the question from a lawyer’s point of vie ...

Whilst many of us were focused on the Rwanda flight, injunction applications and subsequent appeals, the government on 13 June 2022 made some further announcements about the long-delayed Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. The glacial pace of progres ...