Last week the immigration inspector published a 74-page stinging criticism of the Home Office’s approach to family reunion applications. After three previous inspections the Home Office’s performance had “deteriorated” and the inspection revealed “a system beset with delays and a team ill-equipped to manage the complexity and volume of applications”....
To try to reduce the asylum decision backlog, the Home Office has introduced a “streamlined” process, including a questionnaire to be completed, in English, by individuals from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Syria, Yemen and Libya who claimed asylum before 28 June 2022. Around 12,000 questionnaires are expected to be sent out, with...
The Court of Appeal has granted refugee status in a case turning on the credibility of the appellant’s evidence. MAH (Egypt) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 216 provides helpful guidance on the standard of proof in asylum claims, credibility and the role of the...
When employers apply for and are granted a licence to sponsor workers, they make a pledge to accept all the duties of sponsorship, and the Home Office can take compliance action when they consider that a sponsor has failed to uphold their duties or otherwise poses a risk to immigration...
It’s never a good sign when a local authority is so desperate to shirk responsibility for asylum-seekers that it raises judicial review proceedings. In R (Medway Council) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 77 (Admin), a local authority challenged the Home Office’s decision to force them...
This month marks twenty years since the signing of one of the most significant Franco-British treaties in the last 50 years, the Le Touquet treaty. Whilst Le Touquet, a seaside town on the northern French coast one hour from Calais, may conjure images of calm beaches where Macron escapes Paris...
Quarterly immigration statistics released last week show the asylum backlog has hit a record high as 160,919 asylum seekers await an initial asylum decision, quadruple the number awaiting an initial decision at the end of 2019. In December 2022, following intense criticism over continuous unprecedented delays, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak...
The latest quarterly immigration statistics are out. I’m focussing here on what the figures reveal about the system, including the backlog, arrivals, resettlement, grant rate, modern slavery referrals, detention and removals. Page contentsBacklogArrivalsRefugee resettlementModern slavery and traffickingAsylum outcomesDetentionRemovals and voluntary departures Backlog The asylum backlog has reached over 160,000 people: 160,919...
Salary: Minimum starting salary of £28,000 per annum, maximum dependent on experience. Location: The vacancy is full-time, five days per week. This is an office-based role. About the role and how to apply: We are OISC regulated law firm at Level 3. We have been established for more than 12...
The UK continues to play host to industrial action with the latest strike action announced this week being opted for by Junior Doctors and currently set for March 2023. For many, negotiated settlements continue to be some way off and further strikes are anticipated in the coming months. UK visa...
Shamima Begum has lost the latest round in her legal battle against the decision to strip her of her British citizenship and exile her abroad. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission that heard her case concluded that she was a victim of trafficking, which was not something the Home Secretary who...
What happens when you accidentally apply for an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit when you meant to apply for an EEA Family Permit under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2016? The answer: you are deprived of the benefit of the EU Settlement Scheme and the EU Withdrawal Agreement. This is the...
The much anticipated India Young Professionals Scheme visas ballot will open at 2:30 pm India Standard Time on 28 February. The ballot will close at 2:30 pm on 2 March 2023. You will be able to enter the ballot here. The page also confirms some general details about the application...
It is common for immigration lawyers to advise clients in the UK that travelling outside the Common Travel Area (CTA) when an immigration application is pending will result in the application being treated as withdrawn (cue fiddly explanations to clients as to what constitutes the CTA). It is also common...
New guidance has been published by the Home Office confirming how consideration will be given to whether an applicant to the EU Settlement Scheme is a person with a derivative right to reside. A derivative right to reside in the UK was confirmed by the Court of Justice of the...
The Upper Tribunal has watered down the effect of a recent decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of AEB v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 1512. The Upper Tribunal’s judgment reaffirms that where an appellant has not had a fair hearing they will...
In December, Asylos and the Dutch Council for Refugees jointly published two country of origin information reports on Russia, focusing on the treatment of military deserter and of political dissidents. These were published in response to two reports by the European Union Agency for Asylum (‘EUAA’) on these issues dated...
Asylum Aid have three exciting job vacancies available. We look forward to hearing from prospective candidates for any of these roles: 1. Asylum and Immigration Supervisor Closing date: 9am on Thursday 23 February 2023. Salary: full time – £36-45,000 per annum (dependent on experience). This is a really exciting opportunity...
The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that a recognised victim of trafficking who is also an asylum seeker, partly fearing re-trafficking on return as well as political persecution, should have been granted permission to stay (leave to remain) whilst their asylum claim was pending, in line with findings in R (KTT)...
Salary £25000 to £40000+ performance-based bonus (uncapped) Benefits: Work from home, Flexible schedule, Company pension, good growth opportunities Additional pay: Uncapped performance bonus You must have ‘strong’ experience in at least some of the following areas: (* essential) Responsibilities About – A Y & J Solicitors We are 14+ years...
In early July 2022 a consent order was made between the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ALTEU) and the Secretary of State for Justice confirming that the Secretary of State would develop guidance on victims and potential victims of modern slavery for prison staff. That guidance has now been published. The...
If you want to learn about the history if nationality and immigration law, there are few options available to you. Even if you have access to a really good library, Ann Dummett and Andy Nichol’s classic Subjects, Citizens, Aliens and Others dates to 1990. The books on nationality law by...
Job Title: Training Manager Organisation: Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) Duration: Permanent Location: Hybrid / London Reports to: Chief Executive Responsible for: Administration Officer Annual leave: 25 days per annum plus bank holidays and Christmas closure period Salary: £34,000 – £37,000 depending on experience Working Hours: 35 hours per week....
In AB v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors [2023] EWHC 287 (Admin), the High Court found that the Home Office did not discriminate against Afghan nationals, compared to Ukrainian nationals, in the context of the biometrics requirement for entry clearance applications. The facts AB worked as...
In this blog post I am going to take a look at the second main way that the British state strips some citizens of their citizenship status. In a previous blog post I looked at behaviour-based denaturalisation. Here I’m looking at fraud-based denaturalisation. In contrast to the considerable literature addressing...
The High Court has stepped in to order the Secretary of State for the Home Department to accommodate a family who have lived in the UK for over 20 years and were facing homelessness after being evicted from their previous accommodation. The case of R (Ganpot) v Secretary of State...
Yesterday, the Home Office published a number of reviews of internal data and processes relating to the hostile environment. The reviews include a range of data, including figures like 450,000 people being flagged as unauthorised migrants or in breach of visa conditions between 2014 and 2018. And moves on from...
One of the changes to immigration law made by the government in response to the sharp increase in small boat crossings was the creation of a ten year route to settlement for refugees. This followed the commencement of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, although the change was wrought by an...
The Financial Times is reporting today that “around 141,000” EU citizens had their digital status updated to “refused” last month. Their applications were previously refused by the Home Office but for some reason their online status had not been updated. Online status is used by employers, landlords, banks, the NHS,...
On 1 February 2023, the Court of Appeal heard an appeal against a preliminary ruling that asylum seekers can be prosecuted for arriving in the UK without a valid entry clearance. The case is R v. Mohamed and others. The appeal was brought on behalf of four Sudanese defendants who...
The Home Office’s new policy temporary permission to stay for victims of trafficking and slavery was published on 30 January 2023. It accompanies the new appendix to the Immigration Rules of the same name, which was published on 18 October 2022 and came into force on 30 January this year....
This month Sonia and I talk through various government policies all about being horrible to migrants. It’s a seemingly inexhaustible vein. Indeed, there aren’t many (any?) government immigration policies NOT about being horrible to migrants. We then move on to discuss a few different nationality law issues, including the mind-boggling...
The power to denaturalise a British subject on the basis of their behaviour was first introduced by legislation in 1918. With some adjustments, the power remained broadly the same until as late as 2002. Essentially, only a person who had naturalised as British could be stripped of their citizenship and...
The High Court confirms that there is no duty to provide longer term or different accommodation when the Home Office moves asylum seekers from section 98 accommodation. The case is DSM v Secretary of State for the Home Department (anonymity order), case number CO/4276/2022. DSM said she had been in initial...
This week Tech Nation announced that it will cease operation on 31 March 2023 after the government terminated its grant funding. Tech Nation has spent the last decade embedding and scaling up the tech ecosystem, simultaneously bringing thousands of people to the UK to work in the industry. Tech Nation...
Procedural fairness does not require the Secretary of State to take steps to corroborate a person’s account before cancelling their leave for breach of conditions. So held the High Court in R (on the application of Pereira Campos) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3299 (Admin)....
In its 2023 World Report, Human Rights Watch found that the recent immigration and asylum policies introduced by the UK government breach domestic human rights obligations and undermine international human rights standards. The report focuses on the Rwanda agreement and the Nationality and Border Act. But it does not forget...
The system of legal aid for asylum seekers in the UK is broken. The legal advice and representation available is becoming so inadequate that it may breach the state’s human rights obligations and will inevitably lead to significant miscarriages of justice. The underlying problem is that legal aid no longer...
The Home Office is not beloved as an institution. Some consider it necessary. But no-one likes it. That seems to include not just migrants and their families but also many of the civil servants at the Home Office itself, the lawyers and judges who interact with the Home Office and...
