Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #96

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! 

As if last Monday’s proposals were not bad enough, on Thursday the Home Secretary also published the consultation on “earned settlement”. Describing the sky as yellow does not make it so. And slapping the word “fairer” onto the worst immigration policy proposals the UK has seen does not mitigate the unfairness of the contents. What about this man who has waited 17 years for the system to give him the status he is entitled to by law? And the many many others like him whose claims have taken so much longer to resolve than they should, for reasons completely outside their control. These people will now be faced with these extended waiting periods through no fault of their own. How is this “fairer”?

At no point in either Monday or Thursday’s announcements was it made explicit that the proposals are to apply to people who already hold refugee leave but press coverage since has indicated that this is the case, and the “earned settlement” proposals worrying refer to a “starting point” of 20 years. It does say that this can be reduced by switching into the “core protection work and study routes” but is silent on whether the extended periods under “earned settlement” will also be applied. Reference to entry by “small boat/clandestine” resulting in an additional 20 year wait for settlement does not inspire confidence. [Edit: we now seem to have clarification that the longer periods of “earned settlement” will not be applied to refugees, at least not for illegal entry. This has come from, and I really wish I was kidding here, the small print in a tweet from the Home Secretary].

It is not right that people are left in a position of having to guess at what is actually going on here, and who will be affected and how. The position is similarly unclear for other groups, such as the future of family sponsorship for settled people. Also, it seems, but is not clear, that parents of British citizen children who are in the ten year route settlement are to be included in “earned settlement”. If these provisions are applied to them, particularly the proposals on “no recourse to public funds” and overstaying, the consequences for destitute families will be devastating. 

I am assuming that this is written by the same people who did such a bad job with the immigration white paper. It is unclear whether those at the Home Office are simply unable to write clearly, or if this is deliberate, cowardly, obfuscation of the extent and targets of these plans. Clarification should be urgently provided.

On Free Movement, apart from trying to deal with all of the above, we have this useful explainer on exemptions from Immigration Advice Authority requirements, as well as this one on when a visa is needed to transit in the UK. We also had a look at unmarried partner applications under Appendix FM since last year’s changes.

Also last week, the House of Lords Constitution Committee published a report saying that the rule of law in the UK is under threat. Concerns raised included the worsening attacks on immigration judges in recent years by the media. While we are on the topic of ill-informed and inaccurate attacks on the judiciary, last week the Telegraph issued an apology to one of the many judges they have attacked this year. Free Movement was caught in the crossfire of that one, so the paper has clarified that we are not, in fact, an “a campaign organisation advocating open borders”.

Case write ups included the latest, but not last, instalment of RAMFEL’s section 3C case in the Court of Appeal, and this unreported judicial review of a challenge to a visitor visa refusal. For everything else on Free Movement and elsewhere, read on.

Cheers, Sonia

What we’re reading

‘Core Protection’ – London Review of Books, 18 November

Rooted in justice: Reimagining migration into UK agriculture – Focus on Labour Exploitation, November 2025

More than 2,000 trafficked children and lone child asylum seekers missing from UK councils’ care – The Guardian, 24 November

The Care Workers’ Charity Condemns Outrageous Home Office Proposals on Indefinite Leave to Remain for Migrant Care Workers – The Care Workers’ Charity, November 2025

Protesters oppose immigration centre reopening – BBC News, 22 November 2025

Overseas-trained doctors leaving the UK in record numbers – The Guardian, 21 November

Asylum is not illegal migration – why the UK government shouldn’t conflate the two – The Conversation, 20 November

Up to 50,000 nurses could quit UK over immigration plans, survey suggests – The Guardian, 20 November