First of all, the official headnote to Muhandiramge (section S-LTR.1.7) [2015] UKUT 675 (IAC) (20 November 2015): Where an application for leave to remain in the United Kingdom is refused under Section S-LTR.1.7 of Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules on the ground of the Applicant’s failure without reasonable excuse...
Another illuminating headnote from the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber reporting committee: (i) The requirements in para 399(b) are conjunctive. Accordingly, the correct approach is to consider para 399(b)(i) before the requirements in para 399(b)(ii) and (iii). If para 399(b)(i) is not satisfied, there is no need to consider...
In Secretary of State for the Home Department v Straszewski [2015] EWCA Civ 1245 (03 December 2015) Moore-Bick LJ, giving the leading judgment, finds that public revulsion is not generally relevant to decisions to deport under EU law. The facts Two cases were linked for the purposes of this judgment....
On 10 December 2015, just very shortly before the referral of two solicitors to the Solicitor Regulation Authority by the Court of Appeal in Re Shabani [2015] EWCA Crim 1924 (22 July 2015 but only published late in 2015), the Law Society issued a new practice note on Statutory defences...
IMMIGRATION APPEALS AND REMEDIES HANDBOOK By Mark Symes and Peter Jorro (Bloomsbury, 2015) (£37.40) When the President of the Upper Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber writes a foreword, and the foreword concludes with the words “This is…. a compulsory addition to the library of every immigration judge and practitioner” one...
The press is reporting today that Abdul Haroun, who walked the length of the Channel Tunnel to claim asylum in the UK, has been recognised as a refugee, has finally been granted bail (he has been detained since his entry in August) and the Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether...
Here on Free Movement Here on Free Movement the year 2015 was the blog’s biggest so far, with 1,600,000 page views from 660,000 visitors. The total number of page views since the blog began in 2007 now stands at 5,900,000. Free Movement content is widely read and shared, with over...
Christmas gift guide edition Is the ebook edition of Phelan and Gillespie’s Immigration Law Handbook (9th edition) the ideal Christmas gift for the immigration lawyer you have the misfortune of loving or being related to? With only two days to go, it isn’t too late to order the ebook edition,...
As was reported on Free Movement last month, the British Nationality (General) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2015, have made it harder for persons with an EU law-based right of permanent residence to naturalise as British citizens. That is the consequence of a new requirement that such persons first obtain a...
With many thanks to the excellent and eagle-eyed Tim Buley of Landmark Chambers, this post covers the procedural protections against costs orders for legally aided and other litigants in the Upper Tribunal. This is a major issue in judicial review proceedings in the Upper Tribunal; no-one who has been following...
Today is International Migrants Day. The IOM (International Organisation for Migration) keeps track of the dead washing up on the shores of Europe with their Missing Migrants Project. So far this year 3,671 have drowned on the edges of Europe. 5,086 have died worldwide. The ever rising death toll is...
Welcome to the November 2015 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this episode I talk a little about the latest immigration statistics, some rule changes on EU nationals applying for British nationality and the latest batch of immigration rule changes, I do a quick review of Upper...
President McCloskey certainly isn’t wrong when he says of the immigration rules on human rights introduced in 2012: These provisions of the Rules have generated much jurisprudence during the last two years. In this latest contribution to that ever growing jurisprudential midden, Treebhawon and others (section 117B(6)) [2015] UKUT 674...
The child, born in the United Kingdom, of a foreign national, who seeks to be recognised as stateless, but who can under the law of the parent’s nationality, obtain citizenship of that country by descent by registering their birth, may properly be regarded as admissible to that country , as...
A failure to comply with the Senior President’s Practice Direction may affect the weight to be given to expert evidence. Any opinion offered that is unsupported by a demonstration of the objectivity and comprehensive review of material facts required of an expert witness is likely to be afforded little weight...
Official headnote: A decision to certify a person’s (P’s) removal under regulation 24AA of the European Economic Area Regulations 2006 operates as a temporary measure that can be applied only for so long as there is a statutory appeal which could be brought in time or which is pending. Regulation...
In yet another example of a refugee who was not properly advised on his defence to a prosecution for illegal entry, Shabani, Re [2015] EWCA Crim 1924 (22 July 2015), the Lord Chief Justice has overturned the conviction but this time has also referred the solicitors responsible for investigation by...
New Detention Services Order 05/2015 Reporting and communicating incidents out of hours in the immigration detention estate has just been published covering how out of hours incidents in immigration detention camps and during enforced removals (including charter flights) should be reported and communicated. It replaces two previous DSOs but I...
In R (on the application of Kigen & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 1286 the Court of Appeal considers the question of whether waiting for the outcome of an application for legal aid funding made to the Legal Aid Agency is sufficient justification...
Background The facts of Secretary of State for the Home Department v ZP (India) [2015] EWCA Civ 1197 involved some of the worst breaches of immigration law ever seen in a reported decision: overstaying a visit visa in 2002 then organising and taking part in sham marriages, fleeing abroad in...
Good Piece in The Economist on the UK’s treatment of Eritrean refugees: Turned Away: On thin evidence, Britain declares its biggest source of refugees safe after all: Judges who consider asylum appeals also seem to disagree with the Home Office’s strict new approach. Eritreans’ success rate on appealing against rejections...
In a very interesting judgment the Canadian Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional the criminal offence of organising, inducing, aiding or abetting undocumented entry. The case is R. v. Appulonappa – SCC Cases (Lexus). This post reviews that case and then goes on to consider whether similar reasoning might here in...
The Home Office has updated its guidance on asylum claims by EU nationals (Asylum Policy Instruction EU/EEA Asylum Claims) to reflect changes to the Immigration Rules taking effect on 21 November 2015. These changes introduced a presumption that asylum claims by EU nationals are inadmissible and will not be considered...
In the case of TY (Sri Lanka) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 1233 (01 December 2015) the Court of Appeal held that the immigration tribunal cannot consider an appeal on asylum grounds against an application and decision made under EU law. If a...
Yet more Presidential guidance on how to conduct judicial review in the Upper Tribunal, this time in the context of granting permission to proceed with judicial review claims to the lead applicants and grants of interim relief preventing removal in challenges by Afghan nationals to their removal to Afghanistan based...
Following his attention seeking call for all Muslims to be banned from entering the United States, there have been calls for Donald Trump to be given a “visa ban” preventing him from coming to the UK. Is this feasible in UK immigration law? The answer is probably “yes” although one...
Just seen these great factsheets from BID on deportation and detention issues, with really useful advice and suggestions for those trying to represent themselves or their friends and family: BID Factsheet 1: Immigration appeals including deportation The Home Office has refused me permission to stay in the UK. Can I...
The Court of Appeal has reiterated that the burden of proof for proving whether a marriage is a sham for immigration law purposes rests with the Home Office. The case is Agho v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 1198 and it confirms the obiter...
The Secretary of State for the Home Department refused the citizenship applications of the wife and two minor children of an Islamist extremist relying on the residual discretion to refuse to naturalise a person imparted by the use of the word “may” in the British Nationality Act 1981. The refusal...
We’re seeking views on plans to extend support to students who don’t have settled status, but who have lived in the UK for a long time. This follows the Tigere judgment in the Supreme Court. Source: Student support for non-UK nationals who have lived in the UK for a long...
Free Movement Tier 1 Members can now take the update quizzes to claim CPD points for the August, September and October update podcasts: August 2015 immigration update September 2015 immigration update October 2015 immigration update Each quiz is worth 1 CPD. Non members can still listen to the podcasts but...
Some three years after the radical rewriting of the Immigration Rules for families in 2012, the Supreme Court has granted permission to appeal in two important cases, SS (Congo) [2015] EWCA Civ 387 and Agyarko [2015] EWCA Civ 440. SS (Congo) is reported to be linked with the MM case...
The Home Office has published a guide called Coming Home to Jamaica for Jamaican nationals being deported or removed from the UK to Jamaica. It is a mix of useful and crass. Information on emergency acommodation on arrival is provided but the guide goes on to urge deportees to adopt...
In the recent case of R (on the application of Turay) v Secretary of State for the Home Department IJR [2015] UKUT 485 (IAC) Mr Ockelton, the Deputy President of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal, concludes (1) that applicants for judicial review cannot supplement or amend...
The Autumn 2015 Spending Review reveals that the immigration system will need to raise considerable additional funds in order to become “fully self funded”. Paragraph 2.7 says that the Home Office settlement includes: resource savings of 5% by 2019-20 through a fully self-funded borders and immigration system and total reductions...
