The Upper Tribunal has held that a person who was on immigration bail is unable to rely on the exemption from needing to hold a relevant document (showing that the Home Office had already recognised residence as a durable partner) where a person otherwise had a lawful basis of stay...
On 14 March 2024 the government published its latest statement of changes to the immigration rules, which included changes to a number of UK immigration categories. The most significant changes were to implement the plans laid out by the Home Secretary in December. These include raising the minimum income requirements...
The Upper Tribunal has dismissed the appeal of an Iraqi man who had falsely claimed to be Iranian in his first asylum claim. The appellant had returned to Iraq in 2012 when that claim was unsuccessful, before returning to the UK and making a fresh claim in January 2020. He...
This week the Sentencing Council published new draft sentencing guidelines for immigration offences within the Immigration Act 1971 and Identity Documents Act 2010. This includes offences expanded by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. Previously, there had been no formal guidelines for these offences. The draft guidelines have been published...
Closing Date: 2nd April 2024 Vacancy for a full-time paralegal Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP is a niche private immigration and nationality practice, rated Band 1 by both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. We are seeking to appoint a paralegal to support the solicitors at the firm with their...
There was a notable omissions from last year’s immigration application fee increase, namely limited leave to remain applications (i.e. under Appendix FM). The Immigration, Nationality and Passport (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will bring in increases to those applications from 24 July 2024 and several others, including some that were increased...
The Home Office has updated its guidance on voluntary returns, now re-named voluntary departures which now includes the possibility of sending those who agree to a safe third country. Although not explicitly named in the guidance, the intention is clearly to try to get people to agree to go to...
The National Audit Office has published a report ‘Investigation into asylum accommodation’, looking at the Home Office’s plans and progress in increasing the amount of asylum accommodation available. In the financial year to March 2024 the Home Office anticipates spending £4.7 billion on asylum support, £3.1 billion of which is...
On 11 March 2024, the President and Vice-President of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) handed down their decision in R (Mark Nelson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (JR-2023-001472), the first challenge to the Home Secretary’s policy of requiring people on immigration bail to be monitored...
The latest instalment of the Akinsanya litigation, which looks at the entitlement of Zambrano carers to leave under Appendix EU has been decided by the High Court in Akinsanya & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 469 (Admin). Both appellants...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Last week, in the latest demonstration of confidence in its ability to forcibly send people to Rwanda, the government rolled out a new version of the voluntary returns guidance that provides for people to be returned to a third country (i.e. Rwanda) and...
A new Annex 2 has been added to the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 2: sponsor a worker – general information document with some important information, particularly on Defined Certificate of Sponsorship applications and on using certificates of sponsorship by 7pm on 2 April 2024. These changes...
Six months after the Brook House Inquiry published its report, the Home Secretary has responded. The response seeks to create distance from the events in 2017 that prompted the inquiry, as though it was an isolated incident, stating: “Further improvements have been made since the events of 2017 to uphold...
In the context of British nationality law, EEA citizens residing in the UK from 2 October 2000 continue to not meet the definition of “settled”, unless they held indefinite leave to remain or had acquired permanent residence. This was confirmed last week by the Court of Appeal in R (on...
Employers who sponsor migrant workers must comply with a number of sponsor duties to avoid breaching the conditions of their licence. Last year, effective from March 2023, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) announced that it expected sponsors to report hybrid and remote working patterns. Given that many employers allow flexibility...
The government continues to try to maintain its ability to redact the names of junior civil servants in judicial review proceedings and the courts continue to tell them that they cannot do this. The latest instalment is MTA, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home...
Closing Date: Sunday 31st March 2024 Hours: 37.5 per week Salary: £26,000 – £29,000 per annum Location: Coventry About the Role As the Immigration Caseworker, you will manage a caseload of clients. You will work closely with other members of the Legal branch to offer the best advice and service...
An appellant did not act dishonestly when he applied for British citizenship and answered ‘no’ when asked whether there was anything that might cast into doubt his good character. This was despite him being arrested four weeks after citizenship was granted and later pleading guilty to an offence that took...
As previously advised, today a statement of changes and explanatory memorandum to the immigration rules was published to bring in the income threshold increases for both skilled worker and Appendix FM partner routes. The immigration minister made a statement summarising the changes relating to the skilled worker, Appendix FM partner,...
British Red Cross have published a new report on the lack of legal aid assistance available to people in the immigration and asylum system, following a UK wide review of the sector’s capacity to assist with asylum questionnaires and immigration matters. In July 2023 251 firms were contacted in Scotland,...
The latest tribunal quarterly statistics show a very sharp increase in the number of asylum appeals lodged in the First-tier Tribunal in the period October to December 2023. This is due to the considerable increase in the number of Home Office asylum decisions during that time. Waiting times for asylum...
The Home Office has updated its “Allocation of asylum accommodation” guidance so that a list of people who were previously excluded from the Bibby Stockholm, Napier and the other ex-Ministry of Defence sites and from having to share a bedroom, can now be accommodated in these places. The euphemism being...
Legal reform charity JUSTICE has published a report today from their EUSS working group that looks at the ongoing problems with the EU settlement scheme and makes 16 recommendations. The report commends the scheme as being largely successful and for processing a huge number of applications in a relatively short...
The High Court has dismissed and certified as totally without merit an appeal brought by an immigration solicitor against the decision to strike him off the roll, after finding him guilty of dishonest conduct in his dealings with an undercover journalist in 2017. The case is Salam v Solicitors Regulation...
As the government’s Rwanda plan continues to court controversy, there is one area of their policy which by their measures could be seen to be succeeding: their efforts to stop Albanians from seeking refuge in the UK. Since 2019, the Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit at Islington Law Centre...
Closing Date: 25 March 2024 at 23:00 Hours: Full time Location: The position is based at UNHCR London ‘s offices near Chancery Lane Starting Salary: London – £43,440 – £59,000 depending on education and experience. Not subject to income tax but subject to NI deductions. Nature of Position: Under the...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Apparently since 7 October 2023 every entry clearance application made from Gaza has been rejected by the Home Office. That was the position up to the date of disclosure in this judicial review by a Palestinian refugee trying to bring his family to the UK, and there is no reason to...
Three months after first announcing it, the Home Secretary has officially asked the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a review of the Graduate immigration route. The letter from the Home Secretary to the Chair of the committee said that the review may cover the following areas: As we have...
This was the central question which arose in the context of an unlawful detention claim, initially dismissed by the High Court in Johnson v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3120 (KB) and then again in the recently reported appeal in Johnson v Secretary of State for...
On the same day that The Bureau of Investigative Journalism published an article on how the visa system prevents care workers from reporting abuse, a new report by several academics and NGOs has been published “UK agriculture and care visas: worker exploitation and obstacles to redress”. The report looks at...
Your February roundup is here as promised. Colin and I discuss Shamima Begum’s latest appeal, the pause on some asylum cases, a run of decisions involving poor conduct on the part of either the Tribunals or the Home Office, as well as corporate transactions, the sudden closure of the Ukraine...
A guidance change made in July 2023 is affecting the ability of the new-born babies of refugees to obtain refugee status. This is an issue that affects a limited group of people, namely those who have been granted refugee leave for five years, and have a child born in the...
Closing Date: 24 March 2024 Contract: Permanent – Job share Hours: 21 hours per week Location: Any centre – London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle Starting Salary: London – £66,461 – £77,095 per annum including London Weighting (21 hours £39,876 – £46,257) Outside London £62,446 – £72,437 per annum (21 hours...
This is another successful challenge from a former Afghan judge who was unlawfully excluded from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme (ARAP). The case is MP1, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Defence [2024] EWHC 410 (Admin). Background MP1 worked as a criminal defence lawyer...
This is our write up of the first of the Home Secretary’s recent dump of the much delayed reports from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. The one point I will make from the outset is that anyone who is working on Albanian claims should read the relevant...
CLOSING DATE: 2ND APRIL 2024 £33,000 – £36,000 (pro-rata) depending on qualifications + 6% pension Pay grades: OISC level 2 – £33k, OISC level 3/solicitor – £36k Contract: Permanent, 35 hours/week (applications from those seeking part-time working will be considered) LRMN is looking for enthusiastic and passionate immigration advisors accredited...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! It was Frantic Maths Day on Thursday and while in the midst of it all I went to look at my write up of the last statistics release from November last year. It was quite a jolt to see that I had written there that two people had...
Kalayaan, a small but mighty charity that works to provide advice, advocacy and support services in the UK for migrant domestic workers have recently updated their 2023 report on the state of the system for identifying victims of modern slavery, with 2024’s National Referral Mechanism: Near Breaking Point. The particular...
In FGF v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Appeal No: SN/01/2022 the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has concluded that it has the power to award costs in reviews, in certain circumstances. Background FGF applied for naturalisation as a British citizen on 27 January 2020. The Home Secretary refused...
A few days before the two-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK government announced a series of sweeping changes to the Ukraine schemes, giving just four hours’ notice of their implementation. Among the most significant changes are the closure of the Ukraine Family Scheme, and a new...
