Scaling a citizenship and nationality practice profitably comes with significant challenges due to the knowledge-intensive nature of the work, which can’t be delegated. Consequently, business owners spend hours researching the law for individual cases, and at times needing to refuse more complex/profitable work. This leaves little to no time to...
A raft of changes to nationality law came into force a few weeks ago. I covered the changes at a high level on my own firm’s website (shameless plug), but wanted to write in more depth about the new section 4L, which opens up tantalising possibilities for securing British citizenship...
We are looking for several full time advisors but we are willing to employ on a part time basis for the right candidate We will only consider applications with relevant legal experience. Qualifications needed are OISC level 2/3 or Solicitor with IAAS accreditation. We particularly welcome and encourage applications from...
“Theresa May exercised her free movement rights with a trip to Florence on Friday…” So began CJ’s first blog post for Free Movement, published on 26 September 2017. Nearly five full years later — a period sufficient to see off three Home Secretaries — CJ is moving on to a...
The immigration system has been through a lot since I started covering it for Free Movement five years ago. In September 2017, the UK was still in the two-year countdown to leaving the European Union, and there were even doubts about whether it would happen at all. The EU Settlement...
The Home Office response to small boat crossings is “both ineffective and inefficient”, the borders watchdog says. In an excoriating report published this morning, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration found that the system for processing people arriving by boat is often overwhelmed and suffers from a “lack...
In what I calculate to be the fifth Supreme Court case addressing the meaning of the words used in Theresa May’s 2014 reforms of deportation law, the justices have rejected three linked Home Office appeals seeking to reinstate deportation orders. The previous cases were, in reverse order, SC (Jamaica), Sanambar,...
Yesterday the Home Office published a new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 511). It allows unaccompanied children to come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme if they have notarised parental consent. This comes into force on 10 August 2022. Appendix Ukraine Scheme to the...
The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) opened in 2018 and had issued almost 6.5 million decisions by the end of June 2022. The sheer scale of the scheme is a remarkable achievement for the Home Office. The department took on a momentous task when the UK government decided that everyone who...
A Syrian refugee who paid £440 to secure settlement appointments despite being heavily in debt has lost a High Court bid to get his money back. The case is R (MS) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 1413 (Admin). Home Office policy says that applying for...
The Court of Appeal has dismissed an Albanian woman’s judicial review challenge to a finding that she was not a human trafficking victim, holding that those deciding her case had handled it with the correct level of “anxious scrutiny”. The case is R (LM (Albania)) v Secretary of State for...
Last week, celebrities and charities joined forces to celebrate the bravery of Sir Mo Farah. In a BBC documentary, aired on 13 July, the Olympic gold medallist revealed that he was trafficked to the UK and forced into domestic servitude aged nine years old. Farah explained that the decision to...
At Vialto we create the connections that build global careers and societies, bridging the gap between people and their aspirations. As the world of work continues to evolve, we are bringing together the individuals, ideas and technology to unlock business and human growth. Job Description Vialto Partners’ UK in-bound immigration...
The 11th-hour European Court of Human Rights intervention that prevented the first planned removal of asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda has provided only scant relief to those who may soon find themselves being flown 4,000 miles away to an unknown fate. A fresh attempt to begin removals could occur...
The electronic monitoring of foreign national offenders is riddled with flaws which can be traced back to Home Office underfunding and inefficiency, an independent report has found. The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Neal, says the system for electronic tagging and GPS tracking of FNOs “cannot yet demonstrate...
The European Court of Human Rights has concluded that a maritime pushback operation conducted by Greek coastguards in 2014 violated the right to life of the 11 people who drowned in the process. The case is Safi and Others v Greece (application no. 5418/15). The human rights breaches didn’t stop...
In R (Abulbakr) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 1183 (Admin), the High Court has ordered the Home Office to pay a detainee £17,500 for 40 days of unlawful detention caused by unreasonable delay in providing a release address. The figure is high for the length...
Past lack of Comprehensive Sickness Insurance is no longer an issue for EU nationals trying to get their British citizenship, revised Home Office policy says. As we discussed on the podcast only recently, certain EU citizens (principally those here as students or self-sufficient) have been penalised for not having private...
IAAS Accredited Immigration Lawyers, Accredited Caseworkers, Trainee Solicitors & Opportunities for paralegals seeking accreditation Barnes Harrild & Dyer Solicitors has offices in Croydon and Central London. We are a leading firm specialising in Immigration, Asylum & Human Rights law and recognised by Legal 500. Our team of lawyers are second...
Welcome to episode 102 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with elements of the Borders Act 2022 coming into force before moving on to Appendix Private Life and Appendix FM. We then review the latest case law on criminal deportation, touch briefly on Zambrano applications,...
In a reasoned determination on costs, the High Court has found that a judicial review brought by seven West Midlands councils over unfair allocation of responsibilities for housing asylum seekers did not have a causal link to the eventual change in Home Office policy in this area. The case is...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
