The Supreme Court has held that express reference to the Home Secretary’s guidance on her duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 is not required in a decision letter in order to demonstrate that the duty has been complied with. The court also held that...
In a decision on an interim relief application in an age assessment judicial review, the Administrative Court has reiterated the requirements of the Civil Procedure Rules on expert evidence and in particular the need to make an application to rely on this as soon as possible. The case is R...
As the crackdown on sponsor licence compliance continues, in R (Tendercare Management Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 2154 (Admin) the High Court has considered another case involving the revocation of a care home operator’s sponsor licence. In contrast to previous revocation cases we looked...
Hours: 2 years, full time (37.5 hours) (flexible working requests will be considered) Salary: £32,000 p.a. (dependent on experience) Responsible to: Supervising Solicitor Location: Asylum Aid Office (Old Street, London) / hybrid (minimum 2 days per week in the office) Benefits: 27 days holiday plus 4% matched pension contribution Closing...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The government continues to reference Migration Advisory Committee advice in response to questions about expanding the right to work for those waiting for an asylum decision. As I have pointed out before, the committee has recommended that the right to work is not limited to roles on...
On 7 October 2024 the Foreign Secretary made a statement to the House of Commons, explaining that the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius had reached agreement for the UK to agree that Mauritius has sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (the Chagos islands) and that Mauritius would...
Internal and cross-border climate and disaster displacement are not under-studied fields. An abundance of research spanning decades depicts a clear global map of the intersecting and multifaceted issues at play, and indeed, many solutions. However, the legal rights of those who have or will likely move are what hangs in...
In a well-expressed and clearly heartfelt article, Francis FitzGibbon KC explains over at the London Review of Books why he resigned as an immigration judge. It is full of gems and well worth your time. The process is theoretically adversarial, with each side making its own case competitively until the...
Following the article ‘EU Settlement Scheme: automatic extensions and potential curtailments’, published on 30 July 2024, we are now able to provide a bit more insight about current curtailment activity under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS), gained from stakeholder engagement with the Home Office. Background The Home Office has the...
Spain has been ordered by the European Court of Human Rights to pay a Nigerian woman €15,000 in damages as compensation for failures relating to the investigation of allegations that she was trafficked to Spain for forced prostitution. The case is T.V. v. Spain (application no. 22512/21) and although the...
Refugee Council has a new report out today, “Rescue, Recovery and Reform: Towards an effective asylum system”. The report covers all aspects of the asylum system and makes several sensible recommendations, however I wanted to highlight in particular the ongoing lack of clarity around newly recognised recognised refugees and eVisas....
The Court of Appeal answers this question in the negative in Secretary of State for the Home Department v George [2024] EWCA Civ 1192. The case also contains some procedurama* about points which can be raised on appeal not previously taken and considers the applicability of points said to be...
In a major speech on the rule of law, the Attorney General, Lord Hermer KC, has indicated he will shortly be replacing the guidance for government lawyers on litigation risk that Suella Braverman introduced during her time as Attorney General: …in the coming weeks I will issue an amended guidance...
The High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland has dismissed a judicial review alleging a breach of article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights because of the delay in the applicant’s asylum claim. The case is JR247, Re Application for Judicial Review (Rev1) [2024] NIKB 72. Background The...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The lack of options for people to come to the UK in safety continues to make news. There was the story of the Ukrainian woman whose 11 and 15 year old children were refused permission to join here, with no right of appeal at first. Two...
Settlement or indefinite leave to remain is often the end goal for many immigration applicants. Settlement can often only be obtained after a certain number of years of continuous residence in the UK, meeting various immigration requirements, and paying thousands of pounds in various fees. But not all visa routes...
The new Employment Rights Bill has been published. It is a substantial document: it weighs in at 158 pages. There are several aspects of the Bill relevant to immigration issues. Before I go any further, the context to this legislation includes gross and widespread exploitation of migrant workers in sectors...
It was recently reported that the passport application for a British child was refused over “copyright infringement”. The child in question’s name was Loki Skywalker Mowbray and he was born on 4 May (also known as Star Wars Day for the uninitiated among you). You will be unsurprised to hear...
This post is about what happens to a migrant who is in the UK on a partner visa if their sponsor passes away. If their partner dies before the migrant becomes settled, the last thing on their mind will be their immigration status. However, as status as a partner is...
The European Court of Justice has handed down a case reminding EU member states that they can only designate whole countries, not parts of countries, as safe: The Court of Justice specifies the conditions for the designation by a Member State of third countries as safe countries of origin under...
Since July 2012 the immigration rules for adult dependent relatives have been, in practice, almost impossible to meet. Adult dependent relative visas have one of the highest refusal rates of all immigration routes. Between 2017 and 2020, 96% of applications were refused. But they don’t all fail. In the right...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! I am away this week, so if anything big has happened since Thursday, that’s why it isn’t in here. The latest tribunal statistics are out and it continues to be bad news for a government which would really like to stop hearing the words “asylum...
In this post, we will look at who is eligible to apply under Appendix Child staying with or joining a Non-Parent Relative (Protection), what the requirements are, what leave is granted if successful and routes to settlement. Appendix Child staying with or joining a Non-Parent Relative (Protection) is a relatively...
The European Court of Justice has handed down a judgment stating that the discriminatory measures adopted in respect of women by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan constitute acts of persecution: First, the Court answers that some of the measures in question must be classified alone as ‘acts of persecution’, because...
In this episode of the podcast Barry does everyone a big favour by taking us through the autumn statement of changes in detail. Sonia and Barry also have a bit of a call to arms on discretionary grants of indefinite leave to remain and tackling the ten year route. The...
The Upper Tribunal has given useful guidance on when such grants can be made to non-Afghan nationals as well as setting out a summary of the legal principles to be followed on the interpretation of policy. The case is R (Bam Bahadur Gurung) v Secretary of State for the Home...
The Home Office has published a new version (10.0) of its guidance “Withdrawing asylum claims“. The Home Office describes the changes as: Guidance updated: structure and language used across the guidance has been simplified; the process around the requirement to provide and maintain up to date contact details with the...
New figures published today show the asylum appeals backlog had risen to 33,227 cases at the end of June 2024, under the last government. In the period April to June 2024, the immigration tribunal received 9,318 asylum appeals and disposed of 3,598 asylum appeals. These figures look bad as they...
We have written this article to share knowledge on the importance of ensuring the confidentiality and safety of clients who make visa applications for entry clearance based on same sex relationships, and our experience of the steps that can be taken to achieve this. Being in a same sex relationship...
In April 2024, significant changes were made to the salary thresholds for the skilled worker visa route. The general salary threshold rose from £26,200 to £38,700, along with rises to the various salary concessions including for new entrants and PhD holders. There was also a raise to the ‘going rates’...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! There was big news on Friday as we heard that the Lord Chancellor has conceded the judicial review challenging inaction on legal aid fees for immigration and asylum work. Usefully, we have a fairly clear timetable for when action needs to be taken. The government has...
The President of the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) has issued Presidential Guidance Note No 2 of 2024 on witnesses giving evidence from abroad, following new arrangements being agreed with HM Courts and Tribunals Service and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. This has replaced the previous guidance on...
In R (Nakrasevicius) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 1856 (Admin), the High Court ordered the defendant Home Secretary to release a detainee who was being detained pending the resolution of Proceeds of Crime Act proceedings against him in the Crown Court. It addresses the relatively...
What protections under EU free movement law does someone with status under the EU Settlement Scheme enjoy if they are facing deportation due to committing a criminal offence after 31 December 2020? This question was considered by the Upper Tribunal in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Vargova...
OISC has published new exam resource books for Level 1, and Levels 2 and 3. As explained in our post on How to become an OISC adviser, the assessments are open book and those taking the exams will have access to these resource books. The updated page states: Please note...
In an order sealed two days ago, the Lord Chancellor has settled the judicial review brought by Duncan Lewis on 10 June 2024, challenging the ongoing failure to increase rates payable for Controlled Work in immigration and asylum (i.e. for work done at application stage and appeals to the tribunal)....
In a decision that forced me to google Pericles (an ancient Greek politician) and Santayana (a Spanish-American philosopher) the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) has allowed an appeal relating to the Home Office’s refusal to disclose the report on “The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal”. This is the second...
The latest “what could possibly go wrong” in the roll out of eVisas is that the Home Office has (I think) without notice announced that they will no longer be replacing lost or stolen biometric residence permits. If someone has lost their BRP or if it has been stolen, the...
The Home Office has reluctantly published a fascinating independent review of the racism underpinning immigration legislation, focussing on the period 1950 to 1981. The report is described as “an accessible explainer on how race and immigration policy came to be so closely entwined in the political history of the UK”....
Over the summer, the Home Office published Border Force guidance explaining how those with status under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) should be treated when entering the UK. The guidance also addresses pending EUSS applications and those who may be eligible but have yet to submit an EUSS application (late...
