Yesterday, at least 27 people drowned in the Channel. We do not know exactly how many died yesterday or in recent months because the bodies are sometimes lost. A family of five were reported as drowned in October 2020 but the body of one of the children, Artin, aged 15...
Over 17,000 people applied for asylum in the UK between July and September, the highest quarterly total since 2003, new Home Office figures show. Year on year, there has been an 11% rise in applications to 44,000 in the 12 months to the end of September 2021. This includes dependants...
It’s hard to imagine a time when immigration lawyers will stop banging the fairness drum. Far from being responsible for an appeals “merry-go-round”, we find ourselves day in and day out trying to resolve unfair issues and cases in a highly politicised area of law. Unfairness takes many forms. It...
Legal Director Recruitment brief 1. Job Description We have an exciting opportunity for a dynamic and committed UK lawyer (solicitor, barrister or immigration caseworker including non-practising) to take on a new role within RLS. We are recruiting for a Legal Director to join our dedicated legal team in London to...
Comprehensive Sickness Insurance (CSI) continues to be a barrier to British citizenship for EU citizens. Although EU citizens were not required to have CSI to qualify for the EU Settlement Scheme, it lingers on in the citizenship requirements for people previously in the UK as students or self-sufficient persons. As...
The seriousness of a criminal offence is a key factor in deportation cases. It is generally judged with reference to the sentence given by the criminal courts. But what happens when that sentence has been discounted due to an early guilty plea? Last year, in HA (Iraq) v Secretary of...
Last week I set out some observations on the taking of evidence by videoconference from abroad. I pointed to substantial authority that, in the case of the willing litigant or witness outside the UK dialling up on Zoom, where no judicial assistance (such as a witness order) is required in...
Priti Patel has Been Very Clear that the problems in the asylum system are other people’s fault (including me and my “activist lawyer” colleagues) and that her Package Of New Measures will sort them out. But what do the government’s own experts think? Well, yesterday the Independent Chief Inspector of...
In R (Babbage) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 2995 (Admin), the High Court found that a person with an extensive offending and adverse immigration history who posed high risks of re-offending and absconding was unlawfully detained because of the poor prospects of enforcing his removal...
Only five people who arrived in the UK by small boat have been sent back to a European country so far this year, according to the Home Office. The figure comes from junior minister Tom Pursglove, who told MPs on the Home Affairs committee that, thanks to Brexit, there is...
Soul-searching in a large bureaucracy often manifests in well-meaning paperwork. So it is that the Home Office has published an ethical decision-making model. The document is intended to help staff grappling with difficult moral choices in the course of their work. This was one of the recommendations of the Wendy...
Immigration appeals can last a long time: often years and years. What happens when things change during the appeal? This is the question answered by the Upper Tribunal in Akter (appellate jurisdiction; E and R challenges) [2021] UKUT 272 (IAC). The main take away from this case is: don’t appeal...
Among the changes brought about by the pandemic has been greatly increased use of videoconferencing technology by immigration tribunals, including for the taking of evidence. This has made it much more viable for live evidence of appellants and other witnesses to be heard, including from outside the United Kingdom. It...
Some important points on inconsistency and credibility in trafficking cases from David Lock QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge: The expert evidence in this case from Mr Steve Harvey, who has long experience in the police and in Europol in trafficking matters, is that he has never known...
Welcome to episode 94 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we kick off with some human rights developments and some fairly consistently good news on asylum (which is nice for a change). There are quite a few business immigration issues to run over quickly before we turn...
Immigration Enforcement has been given the power to decide whether or not someone is a victim of human trafficking. An update to the Modern Slavery guidance, published on 8 November, includes an “Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority” alongside what was the sole, centralised decision-making body, the “Single Competent Authority”. The Immigration...
In SM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1566, the Court of Appeal has reiterated the correct approach to deportation appeals involving the potential separation of children from their parents. This unusual appeal involved a 52-year-old man, SM, who had been convicted of child...
The UK’s agreements on the post-Brexit rights of EU, EFTA and Swiss residents allow beneficiaries to sponsor their non-European family members to live with them in the UK. There are broadly two types of eligible family members: direct family members, such as spouses, civil partners, children and dependent parents, who...
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) is to inspect the relationship between the immigration system and the higher education sector. The call for evidence, which is open until 15 November 2021, confirms that the ICIBI will adopt a “broad perspective”, assessing the extent to which the Home...
The Court of Appeal has added a rider to last month’s decision in MY (Pakistan). On 15 October, the court held that the Home Office can refuse to engage with human rights claims bolted on to normal immigration applications, which is bad news for the reasons Nath outlines. That judgment...
The Home Secretary can take away anyone’s British citizenship when it would be “conducive to the public good” but would not make that person stateless. She can also take away naturalised citizenship if obtained by fraud, false representation or concealment of a material fact. The circumstances in which the Home...
This is a new role, as investing in in-house legal capacity is a long-term strategic priority for HMC. We have secured funding for three years from Trust for London to employ an Immigration Advisor and have prepared an application to register with OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner). This...
Described in the foreword by Upper Tribunal President Peter Lane as “an invaluable work for all who practise in the field of immigration law”, the Immigration Appeals and Remedies Handbook by Mark Symes and Peter Jorro has entered its second edition. Published earlier this year, it is available directly from...
What amounts to a “fresh claim” for permission to stay in the UK and how should the immigration tribunal handle challenges arguing that someone’s case should be treated as a fresh claim? These were the questions considered by the Upper Tribunal in R (Akber) v Secretary of State for the...
The next round of Shamima Begum’s appeal against losing her British citizenship will take place in November 2022. Then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid made an order depriving Ms Begum of her British citizenship in February 2019. An appeal arguing that this left her stateless failed, with the courts finding that she...
The latest statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 803) allows pork butchers to come into the UK as Seasonal Workers for up to six months. It came into force at 4pm on 1 November 2021. The government announced last month that 800 temporary visas would be made available...
TREC new post – OISC Level 2/3 Immigration Officer We are looking for a part-time immigration officer for 22.5 hours per week. Consideration will only be given to applications with relevant legal experience. Qualifications needed are OISC level 2/3. Salary and Benefits: £24,000 pro rata for OISC level 2 qualified...
People being persecuted on account of their sexual orientation can seek asylum in the UK, but face having to convince the Home Office that they are in fact lesbian, gay or bisexual. While asylum seekers are no longer quizzed about Oscar Wilde, more subtle forms of stereotyping persist. Decision-makers can...
Today marks a significant date in the immigration lawyer’s calendar: it is 50 years exactly since the Immigration Act 1971 received royal assent. Free Movement staff have planned a party to celebrate the occasion (not). The 1971 Act is the root of British immigration law. 50 years on, it seems...
There are only two things that legal aid lawyers can do to mitigate the losses they inevitably face by undertaking publicly funded advice work: reduce the time they put into each fixed fee case, or reduce the number of legally aided cases they take on. This is the stark finding...
On 21 October 2021 the Home Office published the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s (ICIBI) second annual inspection of the Adults at Risk policy, alongside its response. The report itself is an impressive piece of work and provides comprehensive information about the current state of immigration detention and...
In Re Ní Chuinneagain [2021] NIQB 79 the High Court in Northern Ireland has thrown out a challenge to automatic British citizenship for people who reject it. The claimant is from Belfast and regards herself as 100% Irish, from passport to first language. Section 1(1) of the British Nationality Act...
Some young people born or brought up in the UK without immigration status can now apply for settlement after five years rather than ten. The change in policy comes in a new and very welcome Home Office concession, published yesterday. What follows is a short summary; for more detail, see...
Strategic litigation has always been a priority for the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) and its members. Having previously practised in the UK as an asylum lawyer, I recognise that part of the fight to end statelessness must take place in the courts. An important new weapon in our armoury...
Seriously ill migrants claiming humanitarian protection status must show that a persecutor would intentionally deprive them of medical treatment, the Upper Tribunal has confirmed. The case is NM (Art 15(b): intention requirement) Iraq [2021] UKUT 259 (IAC). NM suffers from end-stage chronic kidney disease and needs dialysis to stay alive....
People claiming asylum based on their sexual orientation, including homosexuality and bisexuality, may form part of a “particular social group” which qualifies for protection under the Refugee Convention. In deciding whether to accept an asylum claim, part of the Home Office caseworker’s job is to assess the person’s overall credibility....
