When the Home Office is deporting someone for being convicted of a criminal offence, does it matter what country that conviction is from? In practice, probably not. This seems to be the effect of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Gosturani v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022]...
Below is an unofficial partial transcript of the Court of Appeal’s judgment refusing interim relief (an injunction) in the case of Public and Commercial Services Union and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department. This was one of two cases heard and decided today which sought to pause...
Zambrano carers who already have permission to stay in the UK under the Immigration Rules cannot use the EU Settlement Scheme as a fast track to permanent residence, the Home Office has confirmed. The department announced today that it would not be changing the rules in this area, despite having...
Lawyers will argue today for a pause on removals to Rwanda after the High Court rejected an initial bid on Friday evening. At 10am, three judges will hear an appeal against Mr Justice Swift’s 10 June decision not to grant interim relief. The judge granted permission for a judicial review...
Welcome to episode 101 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with some great news on fees, then some updates on the new Borders Act before turning to Rwanda and asylum more broadly. We have a quick check-in on business immigration and end on the latest...
Home Secretary Priti Patel has refused to meet the immigration inspector since he took up the job over a year ago. David Neal told the Home Affairs committee of MPs this afternoon he was “disappointed that I’ve not spoken to the Home Secretary and frustrated because I think I have...
The Home Office has still not changed its rules on when visa fees can be waived, well over a year after conceding that the current policy is unlawful. The policy on entry clearance fees says that waivers are possible “in exceptional circumstances only, such as civil war or natural disaster”....
In the case of Velaj v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 767, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that Zambrano applications always require factual inquiries as to what would happen to the British dependant if their primary carer(s) indeed left the UK. In the case...
Owing a debt to the National Health Service is a ground for refusing applications for permission to enter or remain in the UK. Such debts arise because “overseas visitors” are charged for certain types of NHS treatment. The National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015 (SI 2015 No....
Asylum seekers arriving by boat have started to receive notices informing them of the UK government’s intention to remove them to Rwanda pursuant to the “Migration and Economic Development Partnership” announced last month. We learned yesterday that the Home Office wishes to begin removing people on 14 June. This article...
We’re recruiting a Head of Immigration The Work Rights Centre is looking for a Head of Immigration to join our ambitious and fast-growing team. We are a charity set up by migrants and for migrants, and as one of few organisations with Russian – Ukrainian speaking staff, we’re at the...
Hot off the virtual presses over at legislation.gov.uk: the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 (Commencement No. 1, Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022 No. 590). The instrument brings into force, on 28 June, around a third of the act’s 82 substantive sections. This is in addition to the...
The recent DK and RK decision that there is nothing wrong with the government’s generic evidence pointing to individuals having cheated on their English language test is “authoritative”, the Court of Appeal has held. The case is Secretary of State for the Home Department v Akter & Ors [2022] EWCA...
The High Potential Individual visa went live at 9am today. It is a new route allowing people to live and work in the UK without needing an employer to sponsor them, vaguely in the mould of the dearly departed Highly Skilled Migrants Programme. It is however restricted to people who...
In the States, they’re known as “Dreamers”. Children and young people who grow up perfectly integrated, only to find out that — through no fault of their own — they’re actually unauthorised migrants. Here in the UK, children who are British in every sense but legal can at least regularise...
Families who can’t afford British citizenship for their children can now get it for free. A new “citizenship fee waiver for individuals under 18” policy was published today. It allows under-18s to apply to have the £1,012 fee on applications for registration as a British citizen waived. The policy applies...
In R (BVN) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 1159 (Admin) the High Court has confirmed that the Secretary of State has no power to interfere with the conditions attached to a grant of High Court bail. It is an unusual issue and the judgment contains...
When the Home Office withdraws a decision to deprive someone of their British citizenship, does the person get their citizenship back (prospective) or was it never lost in the first place (retroactive)? This was the deceptively simple question that the High Court grappled with in E3 & Ors v Secretary...
Practitioners will no doubt be aware of the Supreme Court’s decision in AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 17. The justices endorsed the European Court of Human Rights decision in Paposhvili v Belgium (application no. 41738/10) and thereby materially lowered the threshold for resisting...
Thriving Immigration Department Seeks Additions to Support Continued Growth and Success Vacancies: Immigration Solicitor and Immigration Consultant About Us Based in Leeds and Harrogate, Truth Legal prides itself on being an ethical and affordable law firm committed to the care and wellbeing of clients and staff alike. As a new...
Campaigners are pursuing compensation for EU citizens wrongly found to be unlawfully resident for lack of private health insurance. The CSI Justice campaign, launched by lobby group the3million, follows the recent Court of Justice ruling that EU nationals did not need Comprehensive Sickness Insurance to be legally resident in the...
Many readers will know that I was helping with the new Ukraine Advice Project for much of March. The UAP (as we inevitably refer to it amongst ourselves) is really a mass mobilisation of UK immigration lawyers to give pro bono advice directly to people fleeing the war in Ukraine...
There is a new Practice Direction and a new Practice Statement for the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Both were published yesterday and replace previous versions that applied to both the First-tier and Upper immigration tribunals. The Practice Direction has rules about: Online appeals Case management hearings Adjournments Witness...
This was the unsurprising finding of the Upper Tribunal in R (Ashrafuzzaman) v Entry Clearance Officer (precedent fact; general grounds refusal) [2022] UKUT 133 (IAC). The exception is where human rights are involved (more on that later). Although the case concerned a refusal under the old paragraph 320(7A), the findings...
The Upper Tribunal judgment in SMO & KSP (Civil status documentation; article 15) Iraq CG [2022] UKUT 110 (IAC) comes as a relief for those representing Iraqi nationals who fear that they cannot be properly re-documented on return to Iraq. The case provides guidance on whether someone sent back to...
Welcome to episode 100 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got some pretty major asylum stuff to go over plus quite a few different topics, including compensation for unlawful removal, the unending saga of the English language tests, new immigration fees, changes to work visas, a...
The signatories of the Refugee Convention thought that some people didn’t deserve protection on account of having committed particularly heinous crimes. They therefore introduced “exclusion clauses”, found at Article 1F of the Convention. Accordingly, The provisions of this Convention shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there...
The Home Office has published a new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 17). It is largely focused on changes to the asylum system following the passage of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and the agreement with Rwanda to export refugees to that country. The changes come...
Newly released government documents justifying the refugees-to-Rwanda policy will be independently scrutinised, the immigration inspector has announced. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) is inviting tenders for a country expert to review four detailed publications on the asylum and human rights situation in the East African country....
Boris Becker, three-time Wimbledon champion and many people’s favourite German, has been sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment for offences under the Insolvency Act 1986. Assuming Becker hasn’t acquired British citizenship, will he be deported following the conclusion of his custodial sentence? Automatic deportation The UK Borders Act...
The government has invested huge political capital into its refugee deal with Rwanda. Equally immense resources of time and energy will also no doubt be ploughed into getting a few unfortunate refugees on a plane there at some point. This is a monumental opportunity cost: there are really serious but...
In C-349/20 NB and AB v Secretary of State for the Home Department, the Court of Justice of the European Union has again addressed the question of when Palestinian refugees are entitled to refugee status under EU law. This is the fourth major judgment on this issue we have seen...
Refugees are in the news. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has provoked one of the largest, fastest and geographically widespread exoduses of recent years. Thousands of Afghans who escaped from their homeland in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover are still waiting to find a permanent home. Largely ignored by...
In HA (expert evidence, mental health) Sri Lanka [2022] UKUT 111 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal considers whether the removal of a Sri Lankan man with mental health difficulties would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 3 prohibits inhumane and degrading treatment. Where a person’s mental...
A damning report on healthcare and safeguarding in detention has concluded that the existing protocols for vulnerable detainees are “totally and utterly flawed”. The Medical Justice report Harmed not Heard focuses on the inadequacy of the Rule 35 safeguarding process, designed to identify vulnerable detainees for release. The research comes...
Very belatedly (it is now well over two months since Russia invaded Ukraine), the Home Office has finally launched what it calls the Ukraine Extension Scheme. This is basically just a way for Ukrainians already in the UK to extend their stay lawfully. Until now, for example, a Ukrainian on...
We are recruiting for a new Deputy Editor (Training). The previous post-holder has had to step down for personal reasons unconnected to the job, unfortunately. The job is to commission and edit new courses and keep our existing training materials up to date, including our range of ebooks. It is...
From April 2022 the Home Office has moved to using telephone reporting as a mainstream reporting alternative. This follows on from changes implemented on an emergency basis during the pandemic lockdown and sustained lobbying by migrants rights groups. People who are given a telephone appointment slot will be notified of this...
