Welcome to the November 2016 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This episode I start with the some updates about the immigration tribunal and some tribunal case law, move on to cover some important legislative and procedural changes – a section of the Immigration Act 2016 coming into...
Summary The Home Office has hardened its position on EU citizens who are living in the UK but who do not have a “right of residence” under Directive 2004/38/EC. New regulations were introduced on 1 February 2017 and a swathe of policy documents were updated shortly afterwards. These regulations and...
With thanks to Unbound Philanthropy for the funding, I have been able to put together a series of ebook guides aimed at EU and EEA nationals wanting to apply for residence documents here in the UK. They are updated and expanded versions of my existing ebook on EU applications, and...
Just a few bits and bobs from the details of the latest quarterly statistics: Outstanding EU law residence document applications stands at 95,146 (source). That is a LOT. It is hard to see how the Home Office can meet the 6 months deadline for deciding these applications. Outstanding citizenship applications...
Potentially useful case when seeking to agree costs in good time. The official headnote: Where judicial review proceedings are resolved by settlement, the parties are responsible for doing all they can to agree costs, both as to liability and amount, rather than leaving this to the decision of the Tribunal,...
i) Article 13 of the Immigration (Leave to enter and Remain) Order 2000/1161 (the “2000 Order”) applies to holders of indefinite leave to remain (“ILR”) who travel to a country or territory outside the common travel area so that their ILR does not lapse but continues if Article 13(2)-(4) are...
The first signs of an online court will be visible in tribunals by September, online processes will be extended to a wide range of civil court proceedings by May 2020, and the reforms will be incremental, according to one of the judges in charge… …The first jurisdictions to adopt the...
The Court of Appeal is testing out a new style of “short form” judgment. Given the backlogs at the Court of Appeal at the moment, this seems eminently sensible. Although the particular judgment — yet another appeal by the Secretary of State against a deportation appealbeing allowed — does beg...
In linked judgments in the case of MM and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 10, known to many as just “the MM case,” the Supreme Court has this morning upheld in principle the Minimum Income Rule which requires an income of at least £18,600...
Brexit is causing significant delays in the processing of EU free movement documentation applications. In normal times, before the Brexit vote on 23 June 2016, an EU national could expect a permanent residence certificate to be issued in about 6 weeks and a family member about 4 months or so. The...
By Matthew Evans, Director, AIRE Centre Introduction The rights of EEA nationals (plus Swiss) to reside in the UK are primarily addressed in the Citizens Directive (Directive 2004/38/EC) which is implemented in the United Kingdom in the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016. There are three principal categories of residence:...
Official headnote: (i) On a proper construction of paragraph 245AAA(a)(i) of HC 395, an absence from the United Kingdom for a period of more than 180 days in one of the relevant 12 month periods will entail a failure to satisfy the requirements of paragraph 245CD. (ii) The term ‘residence’...
The Tribunal Procedure Committee (TPC) is interested to receive your views on changes arising from the Immigration Act 2016, in particular to a number of changes to bail, which the Tribunal Procedure Committee considers may make amendments to the rules relating to bail applications desirable. The Immigration Act 2016 (“the...
By Bernard Ryan, Professor of Migration Law, University of Leicester Introduction This paper is concerned with the possibility of a post-Brexit right to remain for those residing in the United Kingdom under EU law on the free movement of persons.[i] It focuses on the question: who should have a right...
A rapid decline in the number of immigration tribunal judges could herald a crisis, despite the government’s insistence that there is sufficient capacity to deal with a growing backlog of work. Government figures show that in 2012 there were 347 fee-paid and 132 salaried judges in the first-tier tribunal. In...
Hundreds of foreign nationals in the UK are being denied access to immigration advice according to new research from the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID). In their new report, Mind the Gap: Immigration Advice for Detainees in Prisons, BID has found that just 1 in 20 people held under...
‘[I]t has to be said, Asmara does not feel like the capital of a country generating asylum applications with a 85% grant rate’ (sic) – Informal Home Office report of UK visit to Eritrea, 9-11 December 2014 In 2014, nationals of Eritrea were the second largest group of asylum seekers...
In her just published book, Reconstructing Judicial Review, Sarah Nason (Bangor University) uses legal theory and empirical research to explore the extent to which the nature of judicial review has changed since 2007. Here she discusses the research behind the book and sets out key features of judicial review as...
A raft of new Home Office policies and forms for EU and EEA nationals was released in early February, along with significant changes to the online application process. These changes accompany the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, which took effect for all applications from 1 February 2017. I have...
The article deals with people claiming asylum in the UK on the basis of a well-founded fear of persecution due to their sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI). Although the UK is a country that respects and actively promotes SOGI rights, the UK does not always provide adequate protection to...
Sounds very interesting and topical: Given-Wilson, Z., Herlihy, J., Hodes, M (2016). Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, Vol 57(4), Nov 2016, 265-273 Unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) are separated from caregivers, have often been exposed to significant additional past and ongoing adversities, and seek protection from war, organised violence or persecution in...
According to estimates, there are 10,000-13,000 victims of modern slavery living in the UK. In order to tackle this problem, the UK government operates a Modern Slavery Strategy, and the Border Force plays its part by identifying potential victims, and ‘targeting’, ‘intercepting’ and ‘disrupting’ traffickers, primarily at the border. How...
Short version: not a lot we did not know already Long version… Yesterday, the day after MPs began the process of the UK leaving the EU, the Government published a White Paper on Brexit. The formal title is The United Kingdom’s exit from and new partnership with the European Union...
‘Patient confidentiality is one of the most important pillars of medicine’, explains Dr Vivienne Nathanson, previously Head of Science and Ethics at the British Medical Association. Can patient information be shared without consent? The general principle is that patient information is confidential and can only be disclosed to third parties...
Take Trump seriously but not literally, said Peter Thiel, Paypal founder, Gawker litigation financier and prominent Trump supporter. Well, it turns out that Trump meant what he said. Literally. Muslims will be banned, literally. The wall will be built, literally. Mexico will pay for it, literally. President Trump's press sec...
The Supreme Court ruled today by a majority of 8-3 that an Act of Parliament is needed for the UK Government to trigger Article 50 and formally begin the process of leaving the EU. Giving the leading judgment the President of the Court, Lord Neuberger, emphasised that the judgment was...
BA (Returns to Baghdad) Iraq CG [2017] UKUT 00018 (IAC). Relatively concise and focussed at only 34 pages. There is no general risk of persecution but some will be at risk, particularly anyone perceived as a collaborator with foreign coalition forces, and if so there is unlikely to be sufficient...
Short answer: yes, at least for now. Long answer… From 1 February 2017 it seems likely that it will be mandatory to use the official application forms for EEA residence document applications, either online or on paper, that are provided by the Home Office. This is a new requirement introduced...
The High Court has ruled in the case of R (On the Applications Of TN (Vietnam) & US (Pakistan)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2017] EWHC 59 (Admin) that over 10,000 asylum appeals had been decided under procedure rules so unfair that the determinations could...
Good briefing paper by the House of Commons library (as always!) on the end of free movement rights and what has been said so far. It also mentioned without comment the now patently false assurances of the Leave campaigners. It remains to be seen how the Government may choose to...
The Home Office has belatedly published the reports of the Independent Family Returns Panel for 2012 to 2014 and 2014 to 2016. Home Office responses have been published in parallel. Why the Home Office was withholding from publication for so long the 2012-14 report is something of a mystery. The...
Welcome to the October 2016 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This episode I start with the abortive increase in fees for immigration appeals and changes to appeals to the Court of Appeal, cover new types of online applications available and then some EU law issues, move on...
The Court of Appeal has in effect endorsed the Home Office practice of issuing “supplementary” decision letters during judicial review litigation to try and make good defects in the original refusal. The case is Caroopen & Myrie v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 1307....
Important new determination from President McCloskey on the best interests of children in human rights cases where the statutory considerations apply: Kaur (children’s best interests / public interest interface) [2017] UKUT 00014 (IAC). The official headnote: (1) The seventh of the principles in the Zoumbas code does not preclude an...
Two new Home Office policies were published today: Criminal investigations (Immigration Enforcement) Liability to administrative removal (non-EEA): consideration and notification The one on administrative removal lools particularly important. It covers categories for administrative removal (overstayers, workers in breach, etc), types of illegal entry, no evidence of lawful entry cases, liability...
