The latest quarterly statistics show little movement on the asylum backlog, which was to be expected given the Home Office was not making many decisions due to the Illegal Migration Act. Following restrictions to the ability of people to bring their immediate family to the UK with them, we have...
The Upper Tribunal has said that where family life exists, the article 8 rights of family members overseas need to be taken into account and it is wrong to focus only on the rights of the UK based sponsor. Following on from that, the refusal to grant entry clearance to...
One day ahead of the next quarterly asylum statistics release, the Home Secretary has announced “New measures to boost Britain’s border security”. These new measures include: Increasing detention makes no sense given that most people are released back into the community and we know that detention actively causes serious harm...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! I noticed what appears to be an interesting change of framing on eVisas last week. A written question for the Home Office on the roll out of the new system was answered in a way that seems to downplay the importance of the...
The Home Office has updated its guidance on Ceasing asylum support following a recent decision by the Asylum Support Tribunal, to explicitly allow a right of appeal against the decision to cease support where the asylum claim has been withdrawn. The new section is on page 8: In light of...
Sponsoring a foreign worker isn’t cheap. Application fees and visa taxes typically run to thousands of pounds. Since the UK left the European Union, the costs of sponsorship have also applied to employers who want to hire EU workers under the Points Based Immigration System. Some of the fees are...
The latest modern slavery statistics show that the record low grant rate noted in the previous update have continued in the period April to June 2024, with positive decisions made by the immigration enforcement competent authority at around 20% for both stages of the trafficking identification process. Background: how does...
You’ve left extending your visa until the last minute and are now in danger of missing the deadline. Does this matter and is there anything you can do about it? The answer to the first question is a resounding yes. Fortunately, in most cases, the answer to the second question...
People from Commonwealth countries often ask whether they can get a British visa on the basis of their country’s historical ties to the UK. The answer is, generally speaking, “no”. But there is one route which is open only to, although not to all, Commonwealth nationals: the UK Ancestry visa....
The Upper Tribunal has held that the Home Office guidance on Zambrano carers is wrong to require decision makers to assess whether a person may be able to make an application with a “realistic prospect” of succeeding under Appendix FM. This was the same conclusion reached by the High Court...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Over the weekend, another two people have died trying to cross the Channel from France to the UK. A family whose eldest daughter died in the attempt a couple of weeks ago explain why they will continue to try to make the crossing....
This post is for those working with children and young people from Sudan in refugee status determination and humanitarian protection. New country of origin information is available. The resource, published by the charity Asylos, aims to assist evidence-based decision-making. Situation for children and young people in Sudan In April 2023,...
The Home Office has been ordered to disclose data on the numbers of emergency travel documents issued for Eritrea and Somalia, and how long it took for those documents to be issued, after refusing to provide the information in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act...
It’s August and Colin is away on holiday so Sonia was joined by a very special guest, Barry O’Leary, for the July roundup. Sonia and Barry discussed the end of the Rwanda scheme and the resumed processing of asylum cases, things not to do when carrying out an asylum backlog...
As someone who is in the UK with leave to remain, I recently tried the new eVisa system for myself and thought it would be useful to share my experience. Biometric residence permits produced in the past few years have “31 December 2024” as the expiry date. This reflects the...
In what is surely a classic of the genre of the “Updates” section of Home Office web pages being entirely misleading, yesterday the Home Office changed its eVisa page to say that everyone with a biometrics residence permit can now apply for an eVisa. This change is described as “Updated...
The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission to dismiss an appeal against the deprivation of British citizenship of a man who travelled to Syria and fought with a group aligned to Al-Qaeda. The case is B4 v Secretary of State for the Home...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! It has been a week of terror for many after far-right racists have run riot across across the UK, culminating in the attempt to burn down two hotels where people who had come to the UK and asked us to protect them were living. The thugs are...
When does the risk of suicide on removal trigger the article 3 threshold? Tragically, the question surfaces more often than it should. Cases of this kind are notoriously difficult to win, but certainly not impossible. This post will offer practical tips to practitioners handling such a case. The case law...
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published two reviews as part of their ongoing work in the sector, one is a review of asylum legal services and the second a review of training records. These reviews contain some important points and should be read carefully by solicitors working in immigration and...
In the midst of time last year, it was announced that Tech Nation would cease operations on 31 March 2023, which we reported on here. Tech Nation is one of several ‘endorsing bodies’ that issue endorsements to individuals who are ‘exceptionally talented’ or ‘exceptionally promising’. Tech based applicants can apply...
As the third anniversary of the Operation Pitting flights loom, the Home Secretary has finally announced a scheme, Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme Pathway 1 Stage 2, that will allow for evacuated families to be reunited. Background In August 2021, the world watched in horror as the Taliban began to overwhelm...
In response to the judicial review claim R (MS) v SSHD AC-2024-LON-000866, the Home Secretary has admitted a practice of intentionally delaying claims for temporary permission to stay made by asylum seeking trafficking victims who were at the time earmarked for possible removal to Rwanda. The pause, which was not...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! For the third week in a row a person has died trying to cross the Channel to get to the UK. 23 people have lost their lives attempting that journey and there is a lot of this year left. Still nothing from the new government...
We have recently seen several cases where a person has received a ‘minded to curtail’ notice from the Home Office following the automatic extension of their permission under the EU Settlement Scheme. Below we look at what is happening in more detail and what people in this situation should do....
A new report “Immigration legal aid and value for money: Identifying the missing data” has identified relevant data that can and should be collected by various bodies in order to properly determine the impact that legal aid cuts have had in relation to cost-shifting elsewhere. The report is from the...
Last week the asylum process formally got moving again as the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (Amendment) Regulations 2024 came into force and so I thought it was a good opportunity to review the highs and lows of last year’s backlog clearance exercise. The impact assessment for the new regulations provides...
JOB DESCRIPTION – Counter Trafficking Legal and Policy Specialist Job title: Counter Trafficking Legal and Policy Specialist Contract: Permanent/Full time (37.5 hours per week) Salary: £40,000 p.a. Location: Old Street, Central London Report to: Director of Legal Protection Benefit: 27 days holiday plus 4% matched pension contribution The Helen Bamber...
A claimant has successfully challenged a move from his asylum accommodation after a failure on the part of the Home Office to engage with the evidence as to why the move was unsuitable because of his particular circumstances. In his case those circumstances were that he had won a scholarship...
The Illegal Migration Act 2023 (Amendment) Regulations 2024 have ended the prohibition on grants of leave for people who have claimed asylum. The effect of the regulations is to consolidate the inadmissibility backlogs as broken down by me previously. All cases currently sitting in the inadmissibility process will now be...
In a really interesting case, the High Court has held that issue estoppel prevents His Majesty’s Passport Office from refusing to issue a passport to an applicant, because of a finding made by the First-tier Tribunal that he is, in fact, British, despite the lack of evidence. That case is...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! There were two separate incidents last week in which a person lost their life while trying to cross the Channel. On Wednesday one person died and 71 were rescued, and the next day one person died and 85 were rescued. Nothing yet from the new government...
A recent response to a Freedom of Information request shows that there has been a sharp increase in the number of people being invited to more than one substantive asylum interview. In 2022, a total of 4,144 asylum applicants were invited to more than one substantive interview. In 2023 this...
The High Court has found that a decision to refuse to register a child as a British Citizen was lawful, despite the “barely stated” reasons given. The case is R (OBN (a minor) by his litigation friend ASM) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 1833...
Being somewhat of a dinosaur (55) I can remember when the UK had a work permit system specific to entertainers and sportspeople. A little team of civil servants beavering away in an office near the Houses of Parliament, deciding who gets a work permit and who doesn’t. For two years...
Here is your June round up of Free Movement. In this episode Colin and Sonia discuss why the Illegal Migration Act should be repealed, an appalling decision on trafficking delays, a much better decision on section 3C leave, the raised standard of proof in asylum claims, one and a bit...
The King’s Speech has given notice that “A Bill will be introduced to modernise the asylum and immigration system, establishing a new Border Security Command and delivering enhanced counter terror powers to tackle organised immigration crime [Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill]”. The background briefing notes provide further detail on...
The court has held that a parent granted a family permit under the EU Settlement Scheme based on assumed dependency must show actual dependency to get leave to remain when applying after 1 July 2021. That decision is Secretary of State for the Home Department v Rexhaj [2024] EWCA Civ...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Friday morning saw yet another avoidable tragedy as four people died while trying to cross the Channel to reach the UK. While the Prime Minister has sensibly declined to commit to “stopping the boats” (they will not stopped but can be reduced), the...
