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...
In Adegboyega v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 2365 (KB), the High Court has awarded £203,995 to a victim of the abuse at Brook House immigration removal centre. The judgment is a vindication of the bravery of detainees who came forward to participate and give evidence...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Issues around the EU Settlement Scheme continue to make news, with the latest being the story of a Polish man who the Home Office was trying to remove despite his having lived here for 20 years and having applied twice to the EUSS. We are one year...
We often get questions about how to become an OISC adviser so we have compiled all the essential information in one place for you. The first thing to say is that if you are looking to provide immigration advice but are not legally qualified, you will need to get registered...
Reports to: National Coordinator, KIND UK Location: Anywhere in the UK (with an option to work from offices in Coventry orBirmingham) Duration: Fixed term until June 30th 2025, with a possibility of extension Hours: Part-time, 15 hours per week Salary: From £30,909 to £35,244 (pro-rata, depending on experience) Purpose Kids...
The report into the Rwanda country policy and information notes by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has finally been published. The Rwanda scheme may be over, and the relevant country notes withdrawn shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision but as I pointed out last week, there are...
Making a mistake on an immigration application form can be disastrous. If the mistake is interpreted by officials as an attempt to mislead or deceive, the application may be refused and can also lead to a ten-year ban on re-entry to the UK. Following a Court of Appeal decision that...
The Home Secretary commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on 6 August 2024 to begin investigating the use of international recruitment and immigration in particular sectors, starting with the information technology, telecommunications and engineering sectors, which are in the top 10 sectors that have been reliant on international recruitment. The...
A new commentary by Asylos, in partnership with Rainbow Migration, has considered the Home Office’s country policy and information note on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in Georgia and identified various assertions on risk that are inconsistent with or unsupported by the country evidence elsewhere in the note....
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Another eight people died in the Channel over the weekend while trying to come to the UK. The government continues to focus on securitisation alone, as a new Border Security Commander is announced and the prime minister seems to believe that there is something useful to...
In this post I explain the variety of reasons that it is a very bad idea to submit a fee waiver application purely for the purpose of getting section 3C leave, with no eligibility for or intention of making the subsequent immigration application mentioned in the fee waiver application. The...
An applicant has successfully challenged the Home Office’s refusal of his application for further leave to remain in the old Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route after obvious errors were made both procedurally and in the refusal letter. The case is R (on the application of Ghadam) v Secretary of State for...
The 2024 edition of the Administrative Court’s guide on judicial reviews has been published: It includes guidance on: The guide also has contact details for the court and information on forms and fees and is essential reading for anyone who does this work, there is also an annex on judicial...
Biometric residence permits (BRPs), all issued with expiry dates no later than the end of December 2024, are being replaced with “eVisas“. To get their eVisa, people need to register and set up an online account (see our step by step guide for help with this) so that they can...
This summer, a legal challenge against the ten year route to settlement became a national media story. When Nelson Shardey spoke out about the pain of being told he didn’t have any lawful status after 45 years in the UK, his story touched the nation. In this post, solicitor Nicola...
