Search Results for: supreme court

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 definition, set out at Article 1A(2) of...

16th June 2025
BY Colin Yeo

May is over and the immigration white paper has finally been published, so Sonia spends a bit of time at the beginning of this month’s podcast reliving the horrors of that. Andrew covers a very wide range of topics in this episode, from deprivation of citizenship to “self sponsorship” to...

10th June 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The fallout from the white paper continues, unsurprising given the almost total lack of clarity in it. The Independent Monitoring Authority has had to put out a statement reassuring those with leave under the EUSS. By the looks of immigration message boards, MPs’...

28th May 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Supreme Court has upheld a decision of the Court of Appeal, which had agreed with the Special Immigration Appeals Commission’s decision to dismiss an appeal against deprivation of British citizenship and an application for entry clearance by a woman in Syria. The case is U3 v Secretary of State...

21st May 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

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...

8th May 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

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...

7th May 2025
BY Nick Nason

This month Barry is away and so his colleague Andrew Jones has stepped up and stepped in to co-host with Sonia, and frankly made it all look rather easy. March was a busy one, and Sonia and Andrew rattled through a lot. There were some big decisions in the asylum...

9th April 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

This month Barry is away and so his colleague Andrew Jones has stepped up and stepped in to co-host with Sonia, and frankly made it all look rather easy. March was a busy one, and Sonia and Andrew rattled through a lot. There were some big decisions in the asylum...

9th April 2025
BY Rachel Whickman

The Court of Appeal has given some guidance on the application of the exceptional assurance policy put in place during the pandemic and has concluded that it could not be relied on by the appellant, notwithstanding the fact that the Home Office had issued him with a letter granting a...

4th April 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

A Somali man who is at risk of harm from the Islamist Al-Shabaab group in his home area is not a refugee or entitled to humanitarian protection because he can reasonably relocate to Mogadishu. This is the decision of the Court of Appeal in ASJ (Somalia) v Secretary of State...

3rd April 2025
BY Keelin McCarthy

The Court of Appeal has said that Lane J was “plainly correct” in his finding that a pending application to the Supreme Court does not act as an barrier to deportation on the basis that the appeal has not yet been finally determined. The case is R (Geddes) v Secretary...

31st March 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Secretary has succeeded in an appeal where she argued that those with deportation orders or proceedings were lawfully excluded from a concession allowing certain victims of trafficking to be considered for discretionary leave under the more favourable provisions in place before 30 January 2023. The case is Secretary...

18th March 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! There were reports of widespread issues with eVisas last week as accounts again seemed to be linked to the wrong identities in yet another data breach. It remains unclear what is causing these issues or when and how it is expected to be resolved. In the meantime, it was...

11th March 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

Claiming asylum is an important human right backed by the United Nations Refugee Convention and recognised by countries around the world. In order to make this right a reality in practice, countries like the UK have set up systems by which people must apply for asylum. In this way, asylum...

11th March 2025
BY Nath Gbikpi

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Committee stage of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill continues this week. An amendment has been proposed by the SNP’s Pete Wishart (on page 8), which would ensure that illegal entry to the UK is ignored when considering the good character requirement in...

4th March 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The latest instalment of the litigation surrounding the family separated during a Channel crossing last year has been determined by the Family Court. We have previously covered the interim relief decision by the Court of Appeal as well as the Upper Tribunal’s decision in the judicial review. This case is...

4th March 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

In two joined appeals, the Supreme Court has held that a successful challenge to a deprivation decision will mean that British citizenship was retained throughout the period from the date the deprivation order was made until the date of the appeal decision, but the effect of the deprivation order will...

3rd March 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has allowed the Home Secretary’s appeal in a deprivation case involving the use of a false identity, but the appeal will now return to the Upper Tribunal which had not considered the article 8 rights of the appellant. This is the third of the recent appeals...

7th February 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

Once the Home Secretary concludes that a refugee is a danger to national security she is entitled to revoke his refugee status. She does not have to go on to consider whether there are less intrusive measures that could be applied. The Home Secretary’s national security decision can only be...

6th February 2025
BY Keelin McCarthy

Inviting tenancy applications in Immigration The Immigration Group at No5 Barristers Chambers has a long-standing reputation for excellence in advising, representation and developing the law, with our members appearing in the First-tier Tribunal, Upper Tribunal, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Our barristers are listed as leading advocates...

6th February 2025
BY Free Movement

International students are worth billions to the UK economy in higher education fees and indirect expenditure, benefitting local communities financially as well as enriching them in non-economic terms. Being able to attract overseas students is crucial to the economic viability of many education providers, but only those with a sponsor...

30th January 2025
BY Nichola Carter

The Home Secretary’s appeal in a deprivation case has seemingly backfired as the Court of Appeal has held that the deprivation process being operated, where the affected person is not given an opportunity to make representations against the decision, is procedurally unfair. The case is Secretary of State for the...

27th January 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal where it was argued that there had been procedural unfairness in a refusal of further leave to remain because the appellant had not been expressly told that his employer’s sponsor licence had been revoked. The appeal actually stemmed from refusal of a...

23rd January 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

In Chaudhry v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 16, the Court of Appeal has confirmed the correct test to be applied in appeals against decisions of the Secretary of State to deprive a person of citizenship pursuant to section 40(3) of the British Nationality Act...

21st January 2025
BY Jennifer Lanigan

The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland has dismissed an appeal challenging refusal of Schedule 10 accommodation on the grounds that the applicant did not have a bail address, which is what she was asking for by making the Schedule 10 application. The situation endorsed by the Court of Appeal...

8th January 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

Every year I put together a round up of what’s been going on in the immigration world and here on Free Movement over the last year. In last year’s review I predicted that the government would bring the Illegal Migration Act into force and that as a result “the backlog...

2nd January 2025
BY Colin Yeo

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...

20th December 2024
BY Free Movement

The presidents of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) and First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) have published the Joint Presidential Guidance No. 1 of 2024: Appointment of litigation friends, to help those who lack capacity to conduct their own tribunal proceedings. In the immigration tribunals context, the power...

17th December 2024
BY Brian Dikoff

The Court of Appeal has said that a child, who is over 21 and has rights of residence based on dependency on their EU citizen parent, does not lose those rights if they start working and are no longer financially dependent on the parent. Essentially, dependency is determined at the...

16th December 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

An unrepresented claimant has been unsuccessful in her challenge to the Home Secretary’s decision to void her indefinite leave to remain application because she submitted a second application to the EU Settlement Scheme. The decision was not communicated to the claimant until it was disclosed during her appeal against the...

13th December 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In November 2024 there was a significant development in relation to the plight of around 64 people stranded on Diego Garcia, as the Home Secretary announced that she would be offering 61 of them the opportunity to be transferred to the UK. This week, on 2 and 3 December 2024,...

6th December 2024
BY Ben Nelson

In M.I. v. Switzerland – 56390/21 (Article 3 – Prohibition of torture : Third Section) [2024] ECHR 862 the European Court of Human Rights has said that failure to properly assess the risk of ill treatment of an LGBTQI+ person in their country of origin and whether state protection was...

28th November 2024
BY Isabella Kirwan

In Gadinala v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 1410 the Court of Appeal has given further guidance on how decision-makers should assess the seriousness of a crime in the context of deportation proceedings. This assessment is important because the more serious the crime, the greater...

22nd November 2024
BY Nick Nason

Colin’s back! But for how long? All is revealed in our October roundup podcast. Plus Sonia and Colin discuss hot topics such as the new practice direction for appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, appeals backlogs, issues in asylum interviews and reaccreditation for the Law Society’s immigration and asylum scheme. We...

12th November 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Colin’s back! But for how long? All is revealed in our October roundup podcast. Plus Sonia and Colin discuss hot topics such as the new practice direction for appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, appeals backlogs, issues in asylum interviews and reaccreditation for the Law Society’s immigration and asylum scheme. They...

8th November 2024
BY Rachel Whickman

The Court of Appeal failed to seal the applicant’s notice in a case, resulting in an almost two year delay. The applicant was asked to make the application again and request an extension of time. When he did so there was then incredibly another two year delay in the Court...

25th October 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Supreme Court has held that express reference to the Home Secretary’s guidance on her duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 is not required in a decision letter in order to demonstrate that the duty has been complied with. The court also held that...

24th October 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The report into the Rwanda country policy and information notes by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has finally been published. The Rwanda scheme may be over, and the relevant country notes withdrawn shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision but as I pointed out last week, there are...

23rd September 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

If a migrant makes a valid application to extend their leave (permission) to be in the UK before it expires, their existing leave will be rolled over until a decision has been made on the application, even if this is after the original expiry date. This is commonly known as...

11th September 2024
BY Alex Piletska

The Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory has unsuccessfully appealed a grant of bail allowing the small group of people seeking asylum on Diego Garcia to access certain parts of the island. The case is The Commissioner v The King (on the application of VT & Ors) (No. 3)...

29th August 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan
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