The immigration white paper contains broad changes affecting swathes of UK immigration policy, including workers, students, family, settlement, citizenship and asylum. Here I look at the changes affecting higher education and the student’s journey. Why they are making changes The government is concerned about certain recent trends in student migration. These include...
The foreword to the white paper contained little affirmation of the legitimate reasons employers have for recruiting from overseas, or of the contribution many skilled migrants have made to the UK. The Prime Minister made a decision to refer to high levels of inward migration as causing ‘incalculable damage’, and the...
We are looking for an experienced Immigration Solicitor to join our highly successful, creative, and dynamic immigration team. The Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit at 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...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The government’s long awaited (and dreaded?) white paper on immigration has been published today, following a weekend of some fairly grim language from ministers, including the PM (I think the “lab” analogy in particular was vile). Solidarity with all of my fellow migrants...
Thank you to everyone who attended our webinar, ‘The “Self-Sponsorship” route for overseas businesses establishing a UK presence’. We had a fantastic turnout and received a huge number of thoughtful questions (nearly 100!). Time constraints made it impossible to answer all questions live, but our host Paolo Barbato has kindly...
This morning I did a quick post to let everyone know that the immigration white paper had been published, along with the summary recommendations from the paper. Let’s now take a closer look at what is being proposed for workers and students. I have looked separately at the rest of...
The immigration white paper has been published containing proposals for future legislation. The summarised proposals from the paper are set out in full below. We have also published a more detailed look at the proposals affecting work and student routes and a separate look at the rest of the proposals,...
It was a relatively quiet April ahead of what looks to be a busy May. Sonia is joined by Andrew again this month. Sonia runs through the amendments made at committee stage of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration one and despaired over the lack of attention given to the...
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill has completed its committee stage in the House of Commons and report stage will take place on Monday 12 May 2025. The Bill as first introduced has had a couple of amendments at committee stage, both introduced by the government. There are also...
The Home Secretary has had an absolute howler in the Upper Tribunal, it is one of those decisions that is worth a read in full if you have the time. It is a successful judicial review challenging a refusal to recognise further submissions as amounting to a fresh claim. This...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Last week I saw an asylum refusal letter that referred to the wrong country of origin. Most lawyers will have seen one of those. So I do understand the “it can’t possibly be worse than current decision making” responses to last week’s announcement...
The Court of Appeal has considered in Ackom v SSHD [2025] EWCA Civ 537 an appeal by a German national against deportation. The key point of contention was whether Mr Ackom would face ‘very significant obstacles to integration’ upon removal to Germany. The court considered the Kamara test in the...
Following the recent roll out of the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) regime for non-visa nationals, there has emerged an apparent discrepancy between some of the suitability requirements in the ETA rules and the visitor rules. This is relevant because it could, at least in theory, lead to cases of...
The Unity Project has published a short new report looking at issues surrounding eVisas and the no recourse to public funds conditions. The main problem is that when people have made a successful change of conditions application and the Home Office has sent a letter stating that the no recourse...
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by an Albanian women in a protection claim where she initially succeeded in the First-tier Tribunal but that decision was later overturned by the Upper Tribunal. Her asylum claim was based on a risk on return from former clients of her husband’s...
An appellant has lost his appeal against a refusal by the Immigration Advice Authority (formerly OISC) to raise his level of registration from level 1 to level 3 without taking the online test. The case is Scerrato v Immigration Services Commissioner [2025] UKFTT 454 (GRC). The appellant took the level...
A Youth Mobility visa enables people aged 18-30 (or 35 for some countries) to live and work in the UK, usually for up to two years. It used to be called the “working holiday-maker scheme” and some people may still call it that. Crucially, there is no requirement to have...
This post is intended for refugees (including those with humanitarian protection), their families and their friends trying to understand the rules on refugee family reunion. The requirements to be met are fairly straightforward and simple for children and partners who existed at the time the refugee fled their country of origin. These...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! It looks like further government amendments will be made to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. The Home Office has announced an increase to the penalties for people who give immigration advice without being appropriately regulated. The announcement also said that they will close a loophole that...
It’s been a year since the armed forces immigration rules were ‘simplified‘ and Appendix HM Armed Forces was published, replacing Appendix Armed Forces. This article highlights the anomalies within the rules created by the unique status of serving personnel, summarises the discretions in place for both serving personnel and families and...
Asylum Aid’s legal challenge to the lawfulness of the statelessness family reunion rules has been comprehensively upheld. The judgement was handed down by the High Court on 14 February and has not been appealed. The case is Asylum Aid v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 316...
Fee waivers (meaning that the application can be made without paying the fee) are available for people who are outside the UK and who are making certain types of entry clearance applications but cannot afford the fee. This is important as the fees are set at a level that is...
On 15 April 2025, the Home Office published a new version of its country policy and information note (‘CPIN’) on social media, surveillance and sur place activities in Iran. This replaced the previous version of the CPIN published in March 2022. It is a significant update, particularly considering that the...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Anyone relying on a US State Department “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” report in an asylum or human rights claim should check the date on it carefully going forward, after reports on the weekend that these will no longer cover many areas, including reports...
A person on a skilled worker visa who was encountered working in a nail salon has successfully challenged the cancellation of her leave. The case is R (Thi Lam Thao Dao) v Secretary of State for the Home Department JR-2024-LON-002126. The applicant is a Vietnamese national who arrived in the...
A Sudanese refugee has succeeded in challenging a negative trafficking decision after he was wrongly criticised for a lack of detail and supporting evidence for his claim. The case is R (Alnoor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 922 (Admin). Background The claimant is a Sudanese...
There is a strong argument that the answer to this question is yes. The Home Office recently conceded a judicial review brought on this basis. However, to date, the argument has not been tested in court. The eligibility requirements for entry clearance as a spouse are in Appendix FM of...
About us: Refugee and Migrant Network Sutton (RMNS) is a volunteer-led organisation committed to supporting refugees, asylum seekers and newly settled migrants living or working in Sutton. In addition to free immigration-related legal advice provided by our full-time Advice Worker, RMNS has a team of over 45 volunteers giving One2One...
After the ban on grants of leave to those in the inadmissibility process was lifted following the change in government last year, there has finally started to be some progress on deciding asylum claims. However early signs are that that the emphasis on fast decision making is coming at the...
Employers in the UK are required to conduct right to work checks to ensure that their employees have the legal right to work. If the employer knows, or ought to know, that the individual does not have permission to work, they can face civil penalties of up to £60,000 and...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! On Friday the Home Office announced a new £1.5 million fund to help people with the Windrush Compensation Scheme. Assistance is needed and welcome, but the announcement does not include help with legal fees and instead makes a point of saying that “Many...
The Court of Appeal has rejected a student’s argument that the Home Secretary should have exercised discretion and considered his application to switch into the skilled worker route, instead of rejecting it for not meeting the validity requirements after a rule change came into force prohibiting such a move. The...
The Home Secretary has made a useful concession to the High Court, confirming that she has a discretion to grant indefinite leave to remain outside the immigration rules without a fee being paid. The child claimant in the case successfully challenged the rejection of his application for indefinite leave to...
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Further submissions, sometimes referred to as a ‘fresh claim’, is a process for submitting a human rights or protection claim where a previous claim has been refused, withdrawn, treated as withdrawn or become appeal rights exhausted. It can be an effective tool for rectifying years of uncertainty for a failed...
