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Does exploiting a domestic worker through human trafficking and modern slavery constitute “exercising” a “commercial activity” for the purposes of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 such that it falls within the exception to a diplomat’s immunity from civil suit? When this arose several years ago in Al-Malki v...

6th July 2022
BY Alison Harvey

The Home Office has published guidance on when officials should vary an application for indefinite leave to remain and instead grant an extension of permission to stay (i.e. limited leave to remain). The stated rationale is to ensure that people who apply for settlement and don’t qualify, but who do...

6th July 2022
BY Bilaal Shabbir

We are looking for a dynamic and committed individual to join our legal team as an Immigration and Public Lawyer (maternity cover for 12 months). This is an exciting role, offering significant opportunities for growth and development, to increase your immigration and public law experience and knowledge through working on...

5th July 2022
BY Free Movement

Marepally v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 855 is yet another long residence case, this time concerning a defective refusal notice. The appellant wanted to rely on the defect to argue that he had achieved ten years’ continuous lawful residence in the UK by operation...

5th July 2022
BY Alex Piletska

The Life in the UK test is a “random selection of obscure facts and subjective assertions” and needs urgent reform, a Lords committee has concluded. Most migrants have to sit the Life in the UK test when applying for settlement or citizenship. The 24-question, multiple-choice exam is designed to ensure...

4th July 2022
BY CJ McKinney

People from New Zealand are in line for more generous Youth Mobility visas, the Home Office has announced. Kiwis will be eligible up to the age of 35 — rather than 30 for other nationalities — and be able to stay in the UK for three years rather than two....

4th July 2022
BY CJ McKinney

In SR (Sri Lanka) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 828, the Court of Appeal has considered whether an asylum seeker attending political demonstrations needs to be genuinely committed to the cause being promoted at the protest. Ultimately, genuine belief is relevant, but not decisive....

1st July 2022
BY Iain Halliday

Conditions at a notorious asylum accommodation centre in Kent have improved, a watchdog reports. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Neal, said his team had “observed conditions at Napier Barracks that should have been in place over a year ago”. Inspectors were so appalled by their first...

1st July 2022
BY CJ McKinney

On 1 July 1962, sixty years ago today, the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 came into effect. It is hard to overstate the importance of this landmark legislation. Aliens were already subject to a separate, full system of immigration control under the Aliens Restriction Acts 1914 and 1919 and the Aliens...

1st July 2022
BY Colin Yeo

The headnote for PB (“Cart” judicial reviews: “new” grounds) Sri Lanka [2022] UKUT 154 (IAC) seems to bear little relation to the facts or the reasons in the case: The Supreme Court in Cart v the Upper Tribunal [2011] UKSC 28; [2011] Imm AR 704 did not intend a judicial...

29th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

The government has announced the details of its much-trailed policy of treating some refugees differently to others based on their mode of arrival in the United Kingdom. The Home Office refers to this as “differentiation” but the word “discrimination” is equally apposite. The changes are being made today because section 12...

28th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

The Upper Tribunal has rejected a challenge to the Article 8 compliance of the “deport first, appeal later” system despite previously having ordered the Home Office to bring the claimant back to the UK to ensure he had an effective appeal. The case is R (Watson) (s. 94B process; s....

28th June 2022
BY Alex Schymyck

The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 was signed into law on 28 April 2022. But there is a difference between a law being “on the statute books” after being passed by Parliament and it actually being “in force”. As we explain below, some of the Act came into force on...

28th June 2022
BY Free Movement

After five years with Free Movement, CJ McKinney is, sadly, moving on for a new job at the House of Commons Library. He started here as deputy editor in 2017 and was promoted to editor in 2021. His final day will be Friday 22 July. I’ll be putting together a proper...

28th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

The High Court has declared that Home Office policy on allowing migrants to have access to public funds is unlawful for failing to take account of the best interests of children, or of a previous judgment along similar lines. The case is R (AB & ors) v Secretary of State...

27th June 2022
BY Sonia Lenegan

The headnote from KB (Art 8: points-based proportionality assessment) Albania [2022] UKUT 161 (IAC): Although judges in the immigration jurisdiction should adopt the “balance sheet” approach to ECHR article 8 proportionality assessments, they must not ascribe points to factors weighing on either side of the balance. The judge in this case...

27th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

Comprehensive Sickness Insurance continues to hang over the heads of many EU citizens who, over the years, were told that they needed private health coverage for their residence in the UK to be lawful. The UK government’s insistence on this was always legally controversial, but it took until after Brexit...

24th June 2022
BY CJ McKinney

In a refreshing example of the Upper Tribunal choosing not to lay down wide-ranging obiter guidance on limited facts having not heard relevant submissions, the headnote for Fatima (paragraph 1 (d) Appendix FM-SE: interpretation) [2022] UKUT 155 (IAC) says simply: Interpretation of the phrase “lawfully derived” in paragraph 1 (d)...

24th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

The headnote to Sohrab and Others (continued household membership) Pakistan [2022] UKUT 157 (IAC) provides a useful guide to the assessment of EU law extended family member cases based on shared membership of a household. It could perhaps make things clearer by spelling out more explicitly that “member of household”...

23rd June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

New rules on humanitarian protection status will apply to claims made on or after 28 June 2022. The changes are another example of how the government’s New Plan for Immigration is creating a crueller, less efficient and more costly asylum system. Around 1,000 people a year are granted humanitarian protection....

23rd June 2022
BY Sonia Lenegan

We mentioned on the podcast last month that revised Immigration Rules on private life — getting permission to stay in the UK based on various forms of long residence, essentially — would need fleshed out in policy guidance. That guidance has duly emerged, to coincide with Appendix Private Life coming...

22nd June 2022
BY Free Movement

Asylum lawyers like me tend to focus on just one clause of the Refugee Convention: the definition of a refugee. This is the gateway to formal recognition as a refugee and is therefore of vital importance to any person seeking asylum. From this definition, set out at Article 1A(2) of...

22nd June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

Many in the immigration and legal aid sectors are heartily sick of “engaging” with government departments and responding to various consultations, but I want to encourage everyone to respond to this one. The Ministry of Justice is consulting on future legal aid fees for the next contract tender, in light...

22nd June 2022
BY Jo Wilding

Whilst many of us were focused on the Rwanda flight, injunction applications and subsequent appeals, the government on 13 June 2022 made some further announcements about the long-delayed Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme. The glacial pace of progress for the Afghan scheme might be contrasted by a cynic with the rapid...

17th June 2022
BY Sarah Pinder

The Supreme Court has allowed the appeal against the deportation of a Jamaican man who arrived in the UK aged ten. The case is SC (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] UKSC 15. The judgment covers the application of the concept of internal relocation to risk of...

16th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

The High Court has provided a glimmer of hope for some Afghan citizens seeking urgent relocation to the UK through applications for leave outside the Immigration Rules. The case is R (S & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors [2022] EWHC 1402 (Admin). The claimants...

15th June 2022
BY Sarah Pinder

A few poor souls are bound for removal to Rwanda today. Whether or not the flight departs on schedule, this is a moment of national shame. One of the richest countries in the world, hosting one of the lowest numbers of refugees internationally, has paid a developing country to take...

14th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

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]...

14th June 2022
BY Iain Halliday

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...

13th June 2022
BY Free Movement

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...

13th June 2022
BY CJ McKinney

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...

13th June 2022
BY CJ McKinney

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...

10th June 2022
BY Colin Yeo

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...

8th June 2022
BY CJ McKinney

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”....

8th June 2022
BY CJ McKinney

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...

7th June 2022
BY Nath Gbikpi

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....

6th June 2022
BY Nath Gbikpi
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