Access to the Court of Appeal is being restricted with effect from 3 October 2016 by means of important changes to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). The headline changes are: Removal of the automatic right to an oral hearing when renewing an unsuccessful application for permission to appeal. Renewed applications...
The New York Declaration Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants starts well: Since earliest times, humanity has been on the move. Some people move in search of new economic opportunities and horizons. Others move to escape armed conflict, poverty, food insecurity, persecution, terrorism, or human rights violations and abuses....
Welcome to the June 2016 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. June 2016 is a month I would rather had not occurred. Inevitably perhaps, I start by discussing next steps for EU nationals following Brexit. I move on to discuss a number of asylum and refugee issues and...
A new Country Guidance case on Libya has been issued. It is a short one and simply states that the previous Country Guidance case should be disregarded for now, pending a more up to date and authoratitive treatment. In the meantime, Libyan cases need to be decided on the evidence...
The Upper Tribunal has ruled that there is no right of appeal to the Court of Appeal against decisions of the Upper Tribunal until Upper Tribunal appeal is finally concluded. This means there is no right of appeal to the Court of Appeal against an Upper Tribunal decision that there...
Two further cases have added to the jurisprudence on whether it is possible under the Immigration Act 2014 to appeal against a refusal of a fresh protection claim. The cases are R (on the application of Sharif Hussein) v First-Tier Tribunal (para 353: present scope and effect) IJR [2016] UKUT...
Two recent cases in the Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal have clarified when a worker might in EU law retain his or her status as a worker during a period of unemployment. The cases are KS v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2016] UKUT 269 AAC...
The Home Office has issued a series of new policy positions on safe return to Iraq. In summary: The Home Office now seeks to depart from AA and to argue that there is no longer a 15(c) risk in Diyala, Salah al-Din, or Kirkuk (except for Hawija and surrounding areas),...
The Home Office has confirmed that where it holds the passport of a migrant who wishes to sit the Secure English Language Test (SELT) it will either return the passport to enable the migrant to sit the SELT or will confirm directly with the SELT centre that the passport is...
Upper Tribunal Judge Goldstein (72) was admitted as a Solicitor in 1987. He was appointed a part-time Immigration Adjudicator in 1996, full-time Immigration Adjudicator in 1999 and Legal Member of the Immigration Appeals Tribunal in 2000. He was appointed Vice President of the Immigration Appeals Chamber in 2003 (now know...
UPDATE: Beta version of online service now available here. A series of pages have appeared on the Governments official gov.uk website suggesting that the Home Office will be launching a new online application process for EEA nationals on 1 October 2016: The European passport return service is available for EEA...
In the case of Sala (EFMs: Right of Appeal : Albania) [2016] UKUT 411 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal has ruled that there is no right of appeal against a decision by the Home Office to refuse a residence card to a person claiming to be an extended family member. The official headnote:...
UPDATE: Full text of speech is here. As UN countries gear up for 2 years of negotiations on new politically binding compacts on refugees and migrants, the PM will seek to put down an early marker by proposing three specific principles that should guide our approach: A first safe country....
Welcome to the May 2016 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this (slightly belated) episode I cover a number of tribunal then Court of Appeal then High Court cases, including on refugee children and adult dependent relatives, move on to cover several issues around litigation including costs,...
Last week saw the release of this year’s Legal 500 lawyer rankings. For those fortunate enough to receive a ranking it is an eagerly awaited event, as the excellent Legal Cheek coverage demonstrates: Humblebrags galore as latest Legal 500 listings revealed. Garden Court Chambers as a whole did very well...
In a joint statement made yesterday, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals announced that all courts and tribunals will be moving towards an online model and will also merge into a single justice system. The proposals for the civil courts have been described as a...
The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, has criticised Home Office handling of applications by family members of refugees settled in the UK. His new report found the Home Office was too quick to refuse applications which might ultimately succeed once fuller evidence was provided, particularly where it...
From September 2016 parents, guardians and carers in England will be asked to state if their children are foreign nationals. Families can refuse to answer. The UK Government has required childminders, nurseries, schools and colleges to collect country-of-birth and nationality data for children aged between 2 and 19. This policy...
1. In response to an allegation that a person should be excluded under Article 1F(a) of the Refugee Convention because there are serious reasons for considering that the person has committed a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime against humanity as defined in the Rome Statute, there...
The UK government, and Europe, has spared no expense to ensure that wherever the people trying to get to Europe end up, it isn’t here. But the courts are seemingly doing their best to help. The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Secretary of State for the Home Department v ZAT...
Official statement by David Davis on Brexit: And so, as we proceed, we will be guided by some clear principles. First, as I said, we wish to build a national consensus around our position. Second, while always putting the national interest first, we will always act in good faith towards...
The Home Office has imposed fines on small businesses for employing illegal workers of over £14 million in just a three month period. The period covered is January to March 2016. The list of businesses targeted by officials appears to include mainly small ethnic minority shops and takeaways. It is...
The Upper Tribunal’s jurisdiction to decide an application for Judicial Review is not affected by the applicant’s being in Scotland. The Tribunal will, however, consider issues of forum non conveniens if it is suggested that its jurisdiction should not be exercised. Not sure that the Scottish judiciary will be terribly...
A considerable number of Japanese businesses operating in Europe are concentrated in the UK. We have been informed of a variety of requests that these businesses have in relation to BREXIT including: maintenance of trade in goods with no burdens of customs duties and procedures; unfettered investment; maintenance of an...
The Home Office is reported to be testing a new online fast track application process for EU migrants in the UK. The Financial Times first carried the story but it was also picked up and confirmed by The Guardian. In summary, the new fast track application process is said to...
The Free Movement online course on the Immigration Act 2016 is now available. Based on the text of the popular ebook, the course is enhanced with 32 minutes of key points videos and clear signposting of which sections of the Act are currently in force and which are not. There...
Evidence had come to light that ETS tests in the case of these two men may have been taken by a proxy. Therefore their leave to remain in the UK was curtailed. The Court of Appeal agreed with the Home Office, quashing the decisions of the Upper Tribunal, which alongside...
Welcome to the April 2016 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this (slightly belated) episode I cover some issues around child cases in human rights and in asylum cases, move on to cover several important procedural issues, including expediting EU residence card applications, and then end with...
New Home Office guidance on Marriage Investigations has been published. Formally, it is Chapter 30 of the Enforcement Guidance and Instructions. The purpose of the guidance is stated on page 1: This guidance is aimed primarily at Immigration Enforcement staff involved in investigating allegations of sham marriage, civil partnerships and...
A new 152 page guide to judicial review applications has been issued by the Administrative Court Office. It is vitally important reading for all practitioners: The Guide does not have the force of law, but parties using the Administrative Court will be expected to act in accordance with it. There...
As highlighted by the Red Cross, the Home Office has introduced a new and improved refugee family reunion policy. The big change seems to be to the treatment of adult children of refugees who have managed to reach the UK. They are still to be refused under the Immigration Rules,...
The Court of Appeal has refused permission to appeal the decision by Mr Justice Cranston in the Detained Asylum Casework challenge test case. The latest judgment is R (On the Application Of TH (Bangladesh) & Ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWCA Civ 815. You can...
The Home Office has published a new 285 page report of a UK fact finding mission to Eritrea from February 2016 and updated its country policy documents on illegal exit from Eritrea and military service. From a quick glance, it looks like there is little change in the Home Office...
Welcome to the March 2016 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this (rather belated) episode I cover several EU law issues that are still relevant even after the Brexit vote then move on to cover some of the more important cases featuring on the blog in March...
The new Asylum Policy Instruction on Sexual Orientation Issues in the Asylum Claim, published last Wednesday, marks an unwelcome retrograde step for the Home Office, which still continues to apply the ‘voluntary discretion test’ to gay asylum claims, even though this has been held to be unlawful, as a matter...
