A report on the fact-finding mission in Albania on human trafficking, conducted between 5 and 12 October 2022, was published shortly before Rishi Sunak’s new new immigration plan was announced yesterday. As a result of the reports findings, the Albania Country Policy and Information Note on human trafficking has been...
Rishi Sunak announced yesterday a number of measures to address the government’s self-made asylum backlog. The tone of Sunak’s statement was more measured than the sometimes rather unhinged rhetoric to which we have become accustomed, although he still introduced the topic as being about “illegal immigration”. There were no attacks...
The Migration Advisory Committee’s annual report provides a comprehensive reflection on the impact of the ban on people working while they await a decision on their asylum claim, as well as other shortfalls in the immigration system. The report confirms a number of ways that immigration and asylum policy pushes...
This month, Colin and Sonia mainly talk about an avalanche of asylum-related news, law and updates. It’s not all asylum, though, there’s also some blog posts to go over on Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, third party support in spouse applications, marriages in durable partner cases, the opening of the citizenship route...
Well-known human rights barrister Adam Wagner, based at Doughty Street Chambers, recently published Emergency State: How we lost our freedoms in the pandemic and why it matters (Bodley Head, 2022). I’m going to start this blog post with a short fairly conventional review of the thrust of the book. But...
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The High Court has dismissed a challenge to the decision to cancel two individuals’ permission to remain in the UK because they exceeded the number of hours they were permitted to work. Shah & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3033 (Admin) is a useful...
The tribunal quarterly statistics for the period July to September 2022 show that waiting times for appeals have increased, but the number of new cases entering the tribunals continues to decrease. The number of cases being decided has also increased. The statistics show that the average time to clear all...
The High Court has provided a warning to practitioners about the importance of pursuing negotiations in false imprisonment claims. The case of Moradi v The Home Office [2022] EWHC 3125 (KB) also concerns the timings of those negotiations. The judge took the opportunity to express his concerns that the parties...
The Home Office has released a statement confirming that thousands more immigration cases are to be heard in the coming months, apparently in a bid to speed up decisions on removing people with no right to be in the UK. The government is investing five million pounds to increase the...
I missed this at the time and only saw it thanks to Joshua Rosenberg’s helpful Substack. SW v United Kingdom (App no. 87/18) was about a judge making adverse findings about a social worker and referring her to her professional body without giving her a chance to respond. The Human...
In September 2022, the Home Office published a new Country Policy and Information Note (CPIN) on blood feuds in Albania. David Neale, legal researcher at Garden Court Chambers, has provided an in-depth review of the publication, which you can read here. Mr Neale argues the new CPIN on blood feuds...
Further submissions or a ‘fresh claim’ is a process for submitting an asylum (or human rights) application where there has been a previous failed claim and all appeal rights have been exhausted. It can be an effective tool for rectifying years of uncertainty for a failed asylum seeker however the...
Over the last few days refugees have hit the headlines once again. Amongst other things, there has been talks of a two-tier asylum system, and it was reported that the Home Office’s Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme (ACRS) has not yet accepted and evacuated anyone from Afghanistan. Suella Braverman’s forward to...
Immigration practitioners will be familiar with being told that when trying to appeal against a determination of the First-tier Tribunal it is not necessary for the Tribunal judge to address every matter raised by an Appellant in the written judgment. Yet, in KG (Turkey) v Secretary of State for the...
In a change to which some of us may struggle to adjust, tribunal judges are now to be addressed in court or correspondence as “judge” rather than “sir”, “madam” or (cringe) “ma’am”. So say the Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals: The current practice is to address...
Hermes Legal is a new OISC-approved level 3 firm dealing with Immigration and Asylum matters. We are looking to hire experienced Caseworkers, Solicitors, Practice Manager and Consultant Solicitors. We have one office in Leicester and are opening other branches in London, Birmingham and Nottingham. Please find below the short description...
The delayed Independent report on the operations of closed material procedure under the Justice and Security Act 2013 has now been published. Sir Duncan Ouseley, the retired Judge that conducted the review, stated that support for special advocates was a “major issue”. Special advocates are appointed to deal with closed...
Regular readers of Free Movement will be aware of the recent judgment finding serious breaches of the duty of candour by the Home Office in the mobile phone seizures case. Jed Pennington has discussed the judgment in a previous post. But, what is the duty of candour? The duty of...
As we move into a post-pandemic working environment, the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has been developing its working practices, according to the regulator’s annual report for 2021/22. And as it catches up on delayed investigations (conducting 81 in the year 2021/22) the OISC secures two convictions for...
An amendment to the Immigration Skills Charge Regulations 2017 is due to come into force on 1 January 2023. The regulations state that businesses sponsoring overseas workers, subject to certain exemptions, must pay a charge each time a certificate of sponsorship is assigned to that worker. The amendment adds to...
Across Europe, asylum seekers and displaced people are facing growing hostility as they look to start new lives escaping war and persecution. In Greece, there is continually mounting evidence of “pushbacks” to which Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, have been shown to be turning a blind eye....
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) published the Immigration and Asylum Thematic Review and new Immigration work – Guidance on 23 November 2022. The review acknowledges that users of immigration and asylum services can be vulnerable and the consequences of poor advice can be particularly severe and difficult to rectify. Three...
Strategic litigation is a hot topic. Jolyon Maugham’s controversial Good Law Project provokes a visceral marmite effect. Some people absolute love it. Some, not so much. Sometimes referred to as ‘impact’, ‘test case’ or ‘public interest’ litigation, the idea that legal cases can be brought in order to achieve a...
Who are we looking for? Rainbow Migration is looking for an asylum lawyer to join our board of trustees. You should be, or within the last 3 years have been, either a practicing solicitor, legal adviser or barrister and have a strong interest in advancing the rights and interests of...
With many thanks to Donald Campbell for sharing, you can find the Home Office research report on asylum journeys here. It’s well worth a read in full but here’s a few selected highlights: Social networks often play an important role in shaping migrant decision-making and movements (p20) Where migrants can...
The Home Office has launched a new application process for people of Chagossian descent to obtain British citizenship or British overseas territories citizenship. The introduction of this route is certainly welcome. Whilst the Chagossians are still fighting to return to their homeland, this is a step in the right direction...
Yesterday the Home Secretary faced questions in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee. Today the quarterly statistics on immigration were released by the Office for National Statistics. What do the two say about the state of the asylum process, backlogs and whether there is a brighter future in store?...
Back in the heady days of 2019, journalist Jon Stone started what turned out to be a very long thread on Twitter. Over and over and over again, he wrote “Abolish the Home Office”. Every tweet linked to example after example after example of appalling conduct by officials at the...
The Court of Appeal has found that the Upper Tribunal should not have continued to decide an appeal itself when it set aside a decision of the First-tier Tribunal. The case is AEB v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 1512. Background AEB was convicted of...
It seems that the UK’s three separate legal jurisdictions are continuing to cause problems in immigration cases. Back in 2019 there was the Scottish immigration appeal incorrectly lodged in England, which nobody noticed for four years. A couple of years later it was re-iterated in another case that English...
Figures the Ministry of Justice was instructed to publish by the Office for Statistics Regulation show that just 8% of all deportation appeals lodged in 2020/21 were allowed on human rights grounds only. The one-off statistical release follows from the consultation on Dominic Raab’s proposed Bill of Rights Act, which...
Hot on the heels of Celik and Batool comes another case dealing with the complex mess of post-Brexit free movement law. The case is Elais (fairness and extended family members) [2022] UKUT 300 (IAC). You can read more about the cases of Celik and Batool here. In this case, the Upper Tribunal considered...
Legal battles concerning appropriate accommodation for asylum-seekers are not limited to claims concerning the welfare of those seeking asylum. The High Court recently heard injunction applications sought by local authorities against a number of hotels and third-party contractors after they potentially violated planning law when they agreed to house asylum...
It is often not possible to mitigate additional distress when working with children given the nature of the asylum regime and the need to explore the hardest moments in your client’s life. This post gives some ideas on how to mitigate this distress when helping a child prepare an asylum...
The minimum income requirement for a spouse or partner visa is well known. Broadly speaking, applicants must show that their sponsor has a gross annual income of at least £18,600. Alternatively, they can rely on savings or, if they are already in the UK and working legally, on their income....
The Divisional Court has now published its judgment addressing the Home Office’s breach of the duty of candour in the mobile phone seizures case. It is reported as R (HM, MA & KH) v SSHD [2022] EWHC 2729 (Admin). Earlier posts address the Divisional Court’s main judgment and order. Edis...
In Elmi [2022] EWCA Crim 1428, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction of a failed asylum seeker who had been found guilty of possessing a false identity document. Elmi had not been advised that he could use the defence of a presumptive refugee under s.31 of the Immigration and...
SGW is a UK-based refugee and Eritrean national. His brother, FGW, is a young person who was trapped in Libya until recently. FGW’s journey to the UK has not been quick, safe or simple. In the case of R (SGW) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Biometrics, family...
