Major changes are coming soon to the visit visa system. The Home Office has been consulting with selected partners for what seems like ages and it looks like implementation is set for April 2015. The ridiculous number of separate visit visa forms and categories is to be seriously simplified –...
The next Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration will be David Bolt, former MI5 officer and later police officer. Announcement here. Turns out new inspector of immigration, is a former MI5 officer and was director general of intelligence at Serious Organised Crime Agency — Alan Travis (@alantravis40) February 10,...
Court of Appeal rules that the Zambrano status arises immediately and there is no need to show destitution. However, Zambrano carers have no entitlement to mainstream social assistance following the amendment to the habitual residence test in November 2012. In Sanneh & Ors v Secretary of State for Work and...
The case of R (On the Application Of Geller & Anor) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 45 was an application to the Court of Appeal against a refusal by the Upper Tribunal to grant permission for judicial review by Pamela Geller and Robert...
Bossadi (paragraph 276ADE; suitability; ties) [2015] UKUT 00042 (IAC) is very short but somewhat less than sweet. A panel of the tribunal tries to row back from the earlier case of Ogundimu (Article 8 – new rules) Nigeria [2013] UKUT 60 (IAC) and suggest that the now scrapped (and so...
We are looking for a number of bright law graduates to join a pool of legal assistants working with barristers in the immigration team at Garden Court Chambers. Assistants will be required to conduct independent work assisting barristers with direct access cases, as well as other legal research and administrative...
JCWI has set up an excellent crowd funding campaign to run posters across the UK showcasing migrants and their invaluable contribution to British life. I’ve backed it and I urge all readers of Free Movement to do likewise. There are only 18 days to run so you need to hurry....
Welcome to the slightly belated December 2014 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. As you might expect, the material for the podcast is drawn from blog posts on Free Movement for the month of December 2014. I start by going through some casework and case law updates and...
Unfortunately the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the Article 3 health test cases in GS (India) & Ors v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 40 (30 January 2015) does not change very much for migrants with serious health conditions seeking to remain in the...
Just a quick one to highlight an example of a judicial review claim where a belated fresh decision was made by the Respondent in judicial review proceedings and the judge took the firm view that costs should be awarded for the proceedings so far. If the applicant wanted to challenge...
In Begum (false documents and false statements) [2015] UKUT 00041 (IAC) we are educated by the tribunal as to the difference between a “visit” and an “inspection” and the blameless appellant is refused entry and perhaps banned from further entry for 10 years. Some might think the case just a...
An application one day late by immigration lawyers proves fatal to success in the unfortunate case of R (on the application of Han) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 4606 (Admin) (04 November 2014). The lawyers, Overseas Student Service Centre Limited (the “OSSC”), had everything they...
Last year the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down judgment in the case of McCarthy v United Kingdom C-202/13. In some ways it is a very straightforward case: the UK is not permitted to require residence card holding family members of EEA nationals to apply for yet...
Where something goes badly wrong at a hearing it is sometimes necessary for the advocate who was present to explain events as part of the appeal process. It has become customary in immigration proceedings for the advocate to have to write a witness statement and therefore, because he or she...
As the darkness outside gathered, the candles inside the church seemed to burn more brightly. Hundreds had gathered at St Martins-in-the-Fields in London yesterday to commemorate Helen Bamber OBE and her work. The event was moving and inspiring but was in equal measure disturbing and challenging.
...President Mr Justice McCloskey has criticised the Home Office for submitting “wing and a prayer” grounds of appeal to the Upper Tribunal and the judge who granted permission to appeal. The case is MR (permission to appeal: Tribunal’s approach) Brazil [2015] UKUT 00029 (IAC) and the language is forthright: To...
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that 415 children aged 10-18 have been refused British citizenship on character grounds. The power to refuse citizenship on character grounds was controversially extended from adults to children as young as 10 in 2010. The refusals include 25 of children aged 10-13, 95...
Just a short one this, but perhaps important. In R (on the application of Javed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 4426 (Admin) Neil Garnham QC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge holds that where a notice of curtailment was sent by recorded delivery to...
The Irish High Court has awarded a claimant over €100,000 in damages against the Irish government for breach of EU law free movement rights. The case is an example of the award of damages awarded for losses caused by a Member State breaching EU law under the Francovich (C-6/90 and...
Last night I was invited to the launch for a new practitioner text edited by Eric Fripp, The Law and Practice of Expulsion and Exclusion from the United Kingdom: Deportation, Removal, Exclusion and Deprivation of Citizenship. There were a number of excellent speakers lined up and so I thought I’d take...
In the news today we can see that an Entry Clearance Officer has rejected an application for a visit visa for two grandparents who wish to travel to the UK to attend the funeral of their 5 year old grandchild, tragically killed in a car accident before Christmas. The family...
In a curious turn of events, the Home Office wrote to the Tribunal Procedure Committee late last year to ‘fess up to having mislead the committee about Home Office policy on withdrawal of decisions. This is an issue we’ve covered before on Free Movement because under the old procedure rules...
My ebook on costs in immigration cases is now available for purchase. It covers costs in statutory appeals and in judicial review cases, case law on unreasonable conduct, the law on wasted costs, costs for litigants in person, the circumstances where costs might be awarded in an immigration context, a...
The Free Movement January sale ends this Friday, 16 January 2015. New content has just been added for members, so sign up now to get access to over 30 CPD hours of invaluable training materials. Use code JANSALE to get 25% off individual membership and 50% off ebooks. The new...
MM (Darfuris) Sudan (CG) [2015] UKUT 10 (IAC) is a commendably concise and to the point new Country Guidance case on Sudan and Darfuris: In the country guidance case of AA (Non-Arab Darfuris-relocation) Sudan CG [2009] UKAIT 00056, where it is stated that if a claimant from Sudan is a...
The Home Office has quietly tightened up the criteria for granting British citizenship under the good character test. This had passed me by so I thought it useful to flag up – and many thanks to Alex Moran for point it out. A number of undesirable behaviours have been added...
