The High Court has dismissed a challenge to changes made to late applications to the EU Settlement Scheme which removed the right to appeal where it is not accepted that the applicant had a good reason for applying late (i.e. where the application is rejected as invalid, rather than being...
Asylum seekers who would otherwise face destitution must rely upon support from the government. This support is limited to either £8.86 a week if their accommodation provides meals or £49.18 in other cases which means most will struggle to meet their basic needs. Given this meagre level of support, it...
The First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) has dismissed the appeal against cancellation of the OISC accreditation of an organisation, Anzan Immigration Lawyers, and its sole adviser Mr Ali Rahmanyfar after a large number of breaches of the code of standards. The case is Anzan Immigration Lawyers v Office of the...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! The bad news is that we apparently have to tolerate yet another media contrived “small boats week”. The good news is that this is the exact opposite of a quiet news week and the US election will presumably drown out most other news, whatever...
The skilled worker visa is the main work route under the points based immigration system. It was introduced on 1 December 2020, replacing a visa called Tier 2 (General). Joanna has previously explained the legal requirements for this visa. For example, the role must have a skill level of at...
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has published a new practice note “Interpreters and Translators” to support compliance with 4.2 of the new code of standards which is to “Provide prompt, clear and competent advice to your clients”. The note states that: A suitable interpreter or translator is...
The Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law (with Bloomsbury Professional and the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association) is holding a postgraduate dissertation competition: Calling all recently completed postgraduate students! You are invited to enter the annual postgraduate dissertation competition organised by the Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law. JIANL, the only...
Employers in the UK are required to conduct right to work checks to ensure that their employees have the legal right to work. If the employer knows, or ought to know, that the individual does not have permission to work, they can face civil penalties of up to £60,000 and...
Closing date Apply by 17:00 on Friday 15th November 2024. About OTB Legal OTB Legal are a specialist UK immigration Law Firm, recognised by the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. At our core, we defy the conventional cliché of Solicitors. Our commitment lies in transforming complex immigration laws into...
The Home Office can impose entry bans on people who have previously breached immigration law or used deception in their application for leave. Bans can last one year, two years, five years or ten years. Generally speaking, and except for some minor exceptions, the person will not be allowed to...
The roll out of eVisas is going about as well as I expected, judging by the state of the forum/social media posts that I have seen. The Home Office has just launched a new form for reporting problems. Once submitted, people should receive a response within ten days either confirming...
The Senior President of Tribunals has issued a new Practice Direction of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal taking effect from 1 November 2024. This replaces the previous version dated May 2022. The new version is considerably longer, up from 12 pages in the previous version to...
A Youth Mobility visa enables people aged 18-30 (or 35 for some countries) to live and work in the UK, usually for up to two years. It used to be called the “working holiday-maker scheme” and some people may still call it that. Crucially, there is no requirement to have...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Last week the House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee published a report looking at several regulations including the Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2024, part of which is now in force. It appears that the regulations were laid at least in part because applicants...
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has published a report on “An inspection of contingency asylum accommodation November 2023 – June 2024” highlighting the usual problems around lack of stakeholder engagement and data as well as concerns about the lack of Home Office checks on accommodation providers. The...
The UK immigration system as it applies to the creative sector is a complicated hodgepodge of different categories, each with their own requirements and restrictions, advantages and disadvantages. These include visitor-based routes, such as creative visitors, permit free festivals and permitted paid engagements, as well as the now ubiquitous sponsored...
The Court of Appeal failed to seal the applicant’s notice in a case, resulting in an almost two year delay. The applicant was asked to make the application again and request an extension of time. When he did so there was then incredibly another two year delay in the Court...
The Law Society is launching its latest round of reaccreditations for senior caseworkers and supervising senior caseworkers in immigration law. Here we take a look at what we know and do not know about the scheme and then turn to how we can help you at Free Movement. Before we...
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...
