JOB TITLE: Statelessness Project Caseworker LOCATION: Asylum Aid Office (London) RESPONSIBLE TO: Statelessness Project Supervisor CONTRACT: Permanent, part-time (22.5 hours per week) (possibility of up to full time – 37.5 hours per week) SALARY: £34,000 p.a. (pro rata) BENEFITS: 27 days holiday (pro rata) plus 4% matched pension contribution START...
Immigration detainees don’t have a right to face-to-face legal advice, the Court of Appeal has held in R (on the application of SPM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 764. SPM was held at Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre in early 2022. At the time, there...
The mantra of “safe and legal routes” is regularly repeated by the government when justifying increasingly draconian legislation in an attempt to prevent refugees from travelling to the UK under their own steam. The argument is that refugees should use these safe and legal routes instead of arriving in small...
About us: The Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London (RAMFEL) is one of the largest immigration and asylum advice charities in the UK, supporting refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants to access justice. An OISC level 3 accredited organisation, we represent clients at all stages of the immigration...
Can a judge ignore part of a Home Office decision if their representative doesn’t mention it in court? No, said the Court of Appeal in Shyti v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 770. The case The appellant, Mr Shyti, was challenging a decision to deprive...
A good, interesting episode of BBC Radio 4’s More or Less programme about immigration statistics and net migration. I helped with a short bit on the background to the net migration target and then there are proper expert contributions from Georgina Sturge, Madeleine Sumption, Peter Walsh, Alan Manning, Rob Ford,...
The Home Secretary was entitled to refuse entry clearance to an Afghan interpreter accused of releasing sensitive information and threatening to kill coalition forces. That was the conclusion of the High Court in FMA and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1579 (Admin), the latest...
The British Nationality (Regularisation of Past Practice) Act 2023 came into force on 29 June 2023. It inserts a new section 50B into the British Nationality Act 1981. Section 50B definitively and retrospectively confirms the British nationality status of all children born in the UK between 1 January 1983 and 1 October 2000 to an […]
...The government published its Child’s Rights impact assessment for the Illegal Migration Bill yesterday, on 4 July 2023. The document covers detention, accommodation, age assessments, removals, modern slavery, safe and legal routes, bans on grants of leave and citizenship (with exceptions), and the confiscation of electronic devices. Ominously, the assessment...
This post reflects on last week’s extraordinary Court of Appeal judgment on the Rwanda policy. You can read our initial take on this here. Appeal to the Supreme Court The government has already announced its intention to seek leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The key issues that...
The majority of unaccompanied children who enter the UK to seek asylum do not bring with them evidence of their age. Because of this, the Home Office has a duty to carry out an initial assessment of their age to establish whether they are, or could be, children. The Home...
The OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) has again amended its guidance note on advisers conducting litigation in judicial review cases. The amendment appears to be with immediate effect, although the online version of the practice note had not actually been updated at the time I was writing this. [update:...
The Supreme Court has held that there was no legal obligation to consider the equality impact of excluding Palestinians from the UK’s resettlement scheme for refugees from Syria. The design of the scheme was therefore lawful. The case is R (on the application of Marouf) v Secretary of State for...
I don’t really know Sunder Katwala personally but I’ve been following him since his long-ago days at the Fabian Society, of which I’ve been a member all my adult life. On Twitter, Katwala is measured, patient and wise. Which makes him stand out like a sore thumb, frankly. His handle,...
The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Neal, has published an inspection report on the Home Office’s handling of foreign national offender cases. It is a highly critical report and, as the government was no doubt aware, had it been published on any other day that that of the...
The Court of Appeal has found, by a majority, that the Rwanda plan is unlawful as Rwanda is not a sufficiently safe country. In short, the Rwandan authorities are not yet reliably able to sort genuine from non-genuine refugees, and therefore there is too great a risk that genuine refugees...
Kids in Need of Defense UK: Part time Supervising Senior Caseworker IAAS at MiCLU (part of Islington Law Centre. Salary: £26,483 for 3 days per week (equivalent to £44,138 full time) Start date: as soon as possible This is an opportunity to be involved in the Kids in Need of...
Potential victims of trafficking awaiting asylum support decisions during the first lockdown were wrongly denied the full payments to which they were entitled. So held the High Court in R (on the application of PM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1551. The Claimant, PM, is...
The Ministry of Justice has launched a consultation on the level at which legal aid fees for advising and representing refugees falling within the scope of the Illegal Migration Bill. Alex Chalk, the Lord Chancellor, writes in the foreword: Given the high volume of cases anticipated as a result of...
The government yesterday published its economic impact assessment for the Illegal Migration Bill and its Rwanda plan. The assessment reveals that Rwanda will be paid approximately £105,000 per refugee received on top of the £120 million already paid and any other undisclosed payments. At least, this is the figure used in...
I hadn’t realised they’d ever gone away, I confess, but Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick wrote on 5 June 2023 to the chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee to say that appeal first, deport later cases are back: I am writing to advise you that from today the Home Office...
A former judge from Afghanistan refused leave to enter the United Kingdom has won part of his case against the Home Office. The judge had sat on innumerable cases involving Taliban fighters and he and his family are currently in hiding. He did not qualify for entry under the criteria...
Last week the Supreme Court found that a financing scheme to help individuals qualify for an Investor visa did not comply with the requirements of the immigration rules. The case is R (on the application of Wang) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 21 and the...
It has become fashionable for government ministers to refer to “bespoke” humanitarian schemes and such like, referring to programmes like those for Ukrainians and Hong Kongers. The illusory scheme for Afghans was once trumpeted as a “bespoke” scheme as well, but it has effectively been mothballed and some of those...
South West London Law Centres are recruiting (3 x Immigration Solicitor/Caseworker positions) Salary up to £36,377 per annum depending on experience. Hours – Full Time or Part Time Considered South West London Law Centres (SWLLC) is recruiting 3 x new Solicitor/Caseworker (permanent positions), expanding our highly respected and friendly team...
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the disembarking of the passengers on board the ship the HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury docks on 22 June 1948. Even now, five years after the Windrush scandal broke, many well-informed and well-intentioned journalists, writers and policy-makers do not really grasp the true legal...
Over and over again we hear that refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country the reach. There are variations on the theme. Genuine refugees claim asylum in the first safe country. Refugees should or even must claim asylum in the first safe country. The asylum seekers coming to...
Lawyers do not own the word “refugee”. The term has been in use since the eighteenth century and has its own evocative, wider meaning in the public consciousness. Those fleeing Ukraine or relocating to the United Kingdom from Hong Kong can validly be referred to as “refugees”, for example, even...
JOB TITLE: Immigration Supervisor/Solicitor LOCATION: Flexible (Office/Remote working) RESPONSIBLE TO: Immigration Services Manager CONTRACT: Permanent, full time (35 hours) SALARY: £29,174-£35,411 p.a START DATE: To be confirmed TO APPLY: Your CV & covering letter should be sent to jobs@cabb.org.uk, clearly stating the role you are applying for. Role Profile Key accountabilities Key...
The National Audit Office has this morning published a report on the Home Office’s asylum and protection transformation programme. It is not pretty reading. Asylum support costs have soared to an astonishing £3.6 billion this year, double last year’s amount. Sunak’s target of clearing the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog by December 2023...
The Seasonal Worker route is one of those visas in the Temporary Worker family, allowing people to come to the UK for short stints without the right to stay long term. Seasonal Worker visas made up around half of all temporary worker grants in the year ending March 2023. 35,122 seasonal worker visas...
A Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry has held that a number of defects in the system of working in Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre led to the death of a 54-year old Chinese man which could have reasonably been avoided. A Fatal Accident Inquiry, similar to an inquest in England, is an...
This isn’t going to come as a surprise to many lawyers. The Court of Justice has concluded that The loss of the status of citizen of the European Union, and consequently the loss of the rights attached to that status, is an automatic consequence of the sole sovereign decision taken...
Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) has been on the government’s agenda for some time. Finally, in the March 2023 Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules HC 1160, the long-awaited Electronic Travel Authorisation scheme was announced. This post explains what ETA is, who needs an ETA, and how to apply. It...
The annual UNHCR global trends report was published today. It shows a marked increase in the global refugee population, to 29.4 million refugees internationally, excluding Palestinians. The equivalent figure in the 2021 report was 21.3 million. Where are they hosted? Only a tiny proportion in the UK: In contrast, 339,300 refugees...
How should we seek to comply with the rules relating to foreign language witness statements in litigation that are governed by the Civil Procedure Rules, including judicial review proceedings in the Administrative Court, and civil actions in the Kings Bench Division and County Courts? The relevant rules and guidance relating...
I don’t think Sonia and I have a great deal of competition in the “monthly immigration law update podcast” niche, strangely, but all the attention on net migration has caused a few podcast series to turn their attention to immigration generally. There are three I’ve heard in the last couple...
The High Court has decided it should not invoke its wardship jurisdiction in relation to missing and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. In Article 39 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1398 (Fam), Article 39, a charity promoting and protecting the rights of children in England who are...
