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...
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...
A person who lacks the requisite mental capacity to litigate in the tribunal or courts requires what is called a ‘litigation friend’ to conduct proceedings on their behalf. The role of a litigation friend is crucial in ensuring that individuals with mental health disabilities are able to participate effectively in...
In yet another Afghan evacuation case, the court in KBL v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 87 (Admin) looked at whether the guidance issued for the benefit of potential beneficiaries of the evacuation, known as “Operation Pitting”, created a legitimate expectation that Afghans in similar circumstances...
In a judgment handed down last Friday, the High Court has cast doubt on the British citizenship status of children born in the United Kingdom before 2 October 2000 to EU citizens who did not at that time possess indefinite leave to remain. The case is R (on the application of...
It is not often you’ll see an Upper Tribunal judge simply concede defeat trying to understand what on earth the immigration rules mean, but this is exactly what happened in this unreported Appendix EU durable partner appeal. For those who have battled the complexities of Appendix EU, there is some...
On 14 October 2022 the Home Office released a second iteration of their caseworker guidance for handling applications to register as a British citizen in special circumstances (section 4L, inserted by the Nationality Act Borders Act 2022). The caseworking scenarios from the first version are now supplemented by fresh examples,...
Yes, although only in very limited circumstances. This was the conclusion of the Court of Appeal in Alam & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 30. For those who don’t know, the House of Lords held in Chikwamba v Secretary of State for the...
Asylum procedure in Europe has been examined in three recent decisions. In two, the European Court of Human Rights found actual or imminent violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the other, the Court of Justice of the European Union considered the proper interpretation of...
The Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC) is seeking to recruit a self-motivating and committed junior solicitor to assist Solange Valdez-Symonds, PRCBC’s supervising solicitor and CEO. The post will be based at our offices in Hammersmith, London. Salary: £35-38k per annum, depending on PQEClosing date for...
A judgment in the Court of Appeal confirms that a country’s permission needs to be properly sought before video link evidence can be heard from someone in that country. The case is Raza v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 29. The First-tier Tribunal considered, separately...
There have been many stories over the last few years about the reasons asylum seekers risk their lives crossing the Channel to come to the UK. If they are willing to do this, many people ask, then what is the point of making life more difficult for them when they...
The House of Commons Library has put out a helpful note about the upcoming implementation of two schemes: EU Entry/Exit System Due to be introduced by the end of 2023, this will be an automated system for registering travellers each time they enter and exit the EU. Travellers will scan...
This article reviews some common cross-cultural pitfalls between legal representatives and young people claiming asylum. It also provides some ideas on how to mitigate cultural misunderstandings. Going into your initial meeting, a basic understanding of your client’s culture is helpful to build trust and a good rapport. It is not...
Salary: Minimum starting salary £36,000 per annum, maximum dependent on experience. Location: The vacancy is full-time, five days per week. This is a remote-working role; therefore we encourage applications from anywhere in the UK Deadline for receipt of applications: Sunday, 05 February 2023 at 11:59 PM Contact for discussions about...
The Upper Tribunal has addressed the Secretary of State’s failure to comply with court directions and due process obligations in the First-tier Tribunal. The court considered the consequences of disposing of a case because of this failure, without considering its merits. The case is SSGA (Disposal without considering merits; R25)...
Changes to modern slavery laws passed last year under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 have been published, ahead of their commencement on 30 January. Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (Commencement No 4) Regulations 2023 covers identification of potential victims of modern slavery under sections 60-69, which will commence on...
The fall of Kabul in August 2021 prompted an emergency evacuation of around 15,000 people eligible for repatriation or relocation in the UK. Within weeks, amid intense criticism of the UK government’s mishandling of the situation and leadership failures surrounding the Afghanistan evacuation, Operation Warm Welcome was launched, to ensure...
Yesterday, the third annual inspection from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) of ‘Adults at risk in immigration detention’ was published. On the same day, the Home Secretary discontinued the standing commission for this annual review. The report focuses specifically on the efficiency and effectiveness of Rule...
Almost five years after Amber Rudd committed to a review of individuals who had entered the UK under the Tier 1 (Investor) route, today, Suella Braverman provided the government’s final response. The review looked at individuals who had entered the UK between 30 June 2008 and the introduction of reforms...
Economic migration is a two-way street. The UK might be ready and willing to receive the world’s elite economic migrants, but they may not be so ready and willing for much longer. A recent report from the Institute for Management Development ranked countries according to their attractiveness to people who...
Yesterday, the interim Age Estimation Science Advisory Committee report on the evaluation methods used to assist in assessing the age of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children was published. In October 2021, Priti Patel threatened to use x-rays to verify age. The report says that using X-rays to check age could put them...
