On 7 February the High Court gave judgment in the case of R (oao) APD v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 246 (Admin). This was the first judicial treatment of section 4L of the British Nationality Act 1981, which was inserted by the Nationality and Borders...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! With no sign of any movement from the government on the ban on citizenship for those who have arrived in the UK without permission, despite further pressure, it looks like it will end up being lawyers who hopefully get this policy overturned. We have also started...
HM Inspectorate of Prisons has published a report following an unannounced inspection of the short-term holding facilities at the France-UK borders that took place in November 2024. These facilities are in France but are run by the UK and are used to detain people while considering whether to admit, grant...
In our latest write up on the people seeking asylum who were on Diego Garcia there was mention of the case of KP, who was excluded from the arrangements to bring most people to the UK as he had criminal convictions, although he had also been recognised as being in...
Companies like TrustedHousesitters have recently hit the news following a number of incidents whereby some of its international members tried to enter the UK as a visitor in order to take advantage of an agreed-upon housesitting arrangement but were instead denied entry into the country. With the rise of this...
The Home Secretary has succeeded in an appeal to the Court of Appeal where the First-tier Tribunal’s decision was overturned for a failure to provide sufficient reasons for departing from a country guidance case, only for the Upper Tribunal to then fall into the same error. The case is Secretary...
A Sudanese refugee has been unsuccessful in his Court of Appeal challenge to an age assessment by a local authority. The case is R (AI) v West Berkshire Council [2025] EWCA Civ 136. The appellant is a Sudanese national who claimed asylum in October 2021. On arrival in the UK,...
The “no recourse to public funds” condition is imposed on grants of limited leave to enter or remain with the effect of prohibiting the person holding that leave from accessing certain defined public funds, set out at paragraph 6 of the immigration rules. A person who deliberately claims public funds despite such...
Delays in the Home Office’s processing of change of conditions applications (used to lift the no recourse to public funds restriction from a person’s grant of leave) are a serious problem and a rare example of where the Home Office is regularly on the losing side of litigation challenging delays...
The Government Authorised Exchange category of the immigration rules is one of the least known of all the UK’s visa options. It can be found in Appendix Temporary Work – Government Authorised Exchange to the immigration rules. The temporary work routes offer visas for temporary workers. According to the original...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Second reading of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill took place last Monday and more briefings have been published, including from Refugee Council, ILPA, Work Rights Centre and Amnesty. The call for evidence for the committee stage of the Bill is now open. Committee stage starts on 27 February so best to...
Emotions can run high in any litigation. In a case arising from unlawful detention, like Mlundira v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 189 (KB), the stakes and emotions can be heightened. This case underlines how important it is to consider and respond to correspondence from the...
The Upper Tribunal has recently dismissed a judicial review action involving a Turkish Kurdish family who were separated when attempting to cross the Channel. Before you continue reading this, I would recommend reading Colin’s excellent article on the interim order decision by the Court of Appeal, where he sets out...
Sometimes a migrant here in the UK unlawfully will want to apply for immigration status. Lawyers and the Home Office often call this “regularising” their status, because the person becomes a “regular” migrant within the rules rather than an “irregular” one outside the rules. One of the ways to do...
UNHCR has published a report following an audit of the UK’s further submissions procedures and decision-making, making recommendations for change. The further submissions process is that used where a person wants to make a fresh asylum claim, usually after a previous refusal. The audit took place in 2023 and 2024...
The Scale-up visa is a flexible immigration route designed to propel high-growth businesses by allowing them to attract top talent to the UK. It was introduced in 2022 and was presented as a visa that will fill essential skills gaps, help UK businesses grow, and boost the UK’s economy. In...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The 2nd reading of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will take place later today and it looks like committee stage will finish no later than 20 March 2025. Useful resources I have seen published in the last week include this briefing from Focus on Labour Exploitation and...
The High Court has dismissed an appeal by the Home Secretary against an award of damages to a refugee in the amount of £98,757.04 in respect of her unlawful detention and breach of article 8 relating to the delay in granting her status. The case is Secretary of State for...
There have been some important additions to pages 50 and 51 of the Good Character guidance (a comparison of the new and old versions is here) that have the potential to block a large number of refugees from naturalising as British citizens, effective immediately. This is described in the changes...
Sonia and Barry are back already to celebrate the end of January! There is a brief look back at 2024 and look forward to 2025 which of course now includes the new Bill (seriously what are we calling this thing for short? BSAIB just doesn’t work, as Barry ably demonstrates)....
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...
We recently ran a very helpful webinar on family member applications to the EU Settlement Scheme presented by Chris Benn. Chris leads legal and policy work at Seraphus and is an expert in European citizen rights. During the Q&A portion of the webinar, we received so many great questions that...
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...
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...
In two mammoth judgments, Fordham J has given detailed guidance about the duties owed to disabled people on immigration bail by the Home Office and local authorities. The two judgments, BLZ No. 1: R (BLZ) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 153 (Admin) and BLZ No.2:...
Job Title Immigration Caseworker Department Employment Reporting to Employment Partners Location GlasgowInitially, this role will be fully office based however, after 6 months, the option to work hybrid may be available. Working hours 9am-5pm Monday-Friday (35 hours per week) Job Type Permanent Closing date Please note, whilst we don’t have...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! With last week’s first reading of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, the sector has its first Bill under this Labour government. The Safety of Rwanda Act 2024 will be repealed but the situation with the Illegal Migration Act 2023 is less straightforward....
Applications to the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme, for those who hold leave under Appendix Ukraine Scheme that will expire soon, are open from 9am today. It is important to note that extensions of leave are not automatic, people will need to apply before their current leave expires or else they...
The government have ramped up its effort to crack down on illegal working, resulting in a surge of enforcement activity throughout England. We are certainly seeing a rise in the number of civil penalties being issued. The Home Office can apply tough sanctions if it discovers that an employer is...
Job title: Legal Officer Organisation: Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) Duration: Funding secured for five years Location: Hybrid / London Reports to: Legal and Parliamentary Officer and Senior Legal Projects Manager Annual leave: 25 days per annum, plus bank holidays and the week between Christmas and New Year off Salary:...
In this article we look at what registration as an Immigration Advice Authority (formerly the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner or “OISC”) Level 2 adviser really means and how to go about it. We talk you through the Immigration Advice Authority requirements for advancing from Level 1 to Level...
Job Title: Immigration and Asylum Senior Caseworker x 3 (IAAS Level 2) Immigration and Asylum Senior Supervisor x 2 (IAAS Level 2) Organisation: The Cotton Tree Trust Department: Legal Department (Immigration & Asylum) Location: 6-9 Manor Gardens, London N7 6LA Role: Full-time Salary: Competitive, subject to experience About The Cotton...
The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill has landed, along with a written statement from the Home Secretary. The Bill weighs in at 57 clauses (“sections” once it is an Act), two schedules and 74 pages. Let’s take a look. You can also read the Explanatory Notes for yourself if...
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...
Rainbow Migration, the longest-running charity in Europe dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system, is recruiting a Legal Officer to advise and help improve the representation of LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum and help change the asylum and immigration system to one that treats everyone with compassion,...
