The Home Office has been concealing important data about the EU Settlement Scheme, an independent inspection report suggests. While the department refuses to release the number of “disguised refusals”, or to disclose gender breakdowns relevant to its equality law obligations, it appears to have had that information at its fingertips...
Check out this hilarious bit of spin in the Home Office’s “factsheet” on yesterday’s immigration statistics: …the UK continues to be a desirable location for the brightest and best around the world… The number of highly skilled visas issued [in 2019] has increased by 7% to 5,664. The majority of...
More immigration judge appointments have been trickling in this month: Jennifer Bartlett, 39, solicitor Idris Evans, 53, solicitor Nicholas Aldridge, 48, solicitor Daniel Sills, 40, solicitor turned barrister Julius Komorowski, 37, advocate Nawraz Karbani, 35, barrister Anthony Cartin, 34, barrister turned solicitor Michelle Brewer, barrister (recently gave a speech on...
Yesterday’s government announcement on The Future Relationship with the EU made it clear that the United Kingdom would not seek to participate in the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) scheme. This will not come as a surprise to those who have been watching this issue since the referendum: the prospects of...
The Home Office is “managing relatively comfortably” with the millions of European residents applying for post-Brexit settled status, a long-awaited review has found. The department finally published the results today of an inspection of the EU Settlement Scheme by David Bolt, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. A...
The number of people with pending asylum cases has risen by almost 50% in just the last 12 months, new Home Office figures show. Over 56,000 asylum seekers and their dependants were awaiting an initial decision or further review at the end of 2019, compared to 38,000 at the end...
Over 11 years since the decision in SZ and JM (Christians – FS confirmed) Iran CG [2008] UKAIT 82, the Upper Tribunal has revisited the question of risk on return for certain groups of Christians in Iran. The result is PS (Christianity – risk) Iran CG [2020] UKUT 46 (IAC)....
The years since the EU referendum have been an emotional rollercoaster for European citizens in the UK. Initial shock and disbelief were followed by months of uncertainty and tension as the British government negotiated a transitional agreement – which failed to get parliamentary approval for over a year – and...
The Supreme Court has found in the case of DN (Rwanda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 7 that the detention of a Rwandan man facing deportation was unlawful because the deportation order on which detention was based was itself unlawful. In this case the deportation...
Ronnie Latayan came to the UK from the Philippines on a visit visa in 2004 and has been here ever since, through multiple unsuccessful applications for further leave to remain. Now 46, Ms Latayan lives with her mother, a naturalised British citizen with an Irish partner. In Latayan v Secretary...
Patel (British citizen child – deportation) [2020] UKUT 45 (IAC) considers the importance of British citizenship held by children of people being deported from the UK. The case concerned an appeal brought by Mr Patel, an Indian citizen, against a decision to deport him following a 2016 conviction for money...
Another reported case that would perhaps have been more effective and appropriate as a passive-aggressive Post-it note stuck on the office kettle at Tribunal HQ: Permission should not be granted on the grounds as pleaded if there is, quite apart from the grounds, a reason why the appeal would fail....
Are you learning about immigration law in the United Kingdom? We have just published Introduction to immigration law: everything you need to get started. This introductory ebook is perfect for beginners getting to grips with immigration law and practice, whether for the OISC Level 1 exams, the Legal Aid Agency...
The case of SD (British citizen children – entry clearance) Sri Lanka [2020] UKUT 43 (IAC) shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone following developments around Appendix FM and the rules relating to the rights of family members of British citizens to move to the UK. That does not, though,...
This week we finally got to see more detail about the 2021 Points Based Immigration System. The government’s announcement confirms that every organisation in the UK — from businesses to charities, schools to local shops — will need to become an “approved sponsor” to employ EU citizens who are new...
In a mammoth new judgment the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has developed a significant exception to the general prohibition on summary removal of migrants without consideration of their individual circumstances. In recent years European countries have resorted to summarily deporting migrants who have recently crossed...
Outsourcing firm Serco is to take over two immigration removal centres run by rival G4S, the Home Office has announced. The Hampshire-headquartered company, which already runs the notorious Yarl’s Wood detention centre, will take over Brook House and Tinsley House from May 2020. The contract runs until 2028, with an...
In the case of Tahir Yaseen v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 157, the Court of Appeal has reiterated that refusals on the ground of character or conduct require a balancing exercise, taking into account both positive and negative considerations. The appellant, Mr Yaseen, made...
The government has released a few more details of what it calls a “points based system” for immigration to the UK after Brexit. To balance out the impending end of free movement of workers from the European Union, it would allow employers to sponsor migrant workers at lower salaries and...
The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Hussein v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 156 is another reminder of the multiple layers of protection from deportation which EU citizens enjoy. In particular, it focuses on the importance of a properly reasoned decision by the First-tier Tribunal...
The Public Law Project has a new briefing on EU citizens’ rights during the transition period. It says: The main takeaway is that throughout the transition period, until 31 December 2020, almost all EU rules will continue to apply in the UK. The jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of...
In (B)ordering Britain: Law, Race and Empire, published last week by Manchester University Press, Nadine El-Enany argues that British nationality and immigration laws are acts of colonial theft. Having expropriated untold wealth from the countries comprising her empire, Britain used this seed capital to construct infrastructure, health, wealth, security, opportunity...
The AIRE Centre has launched a free Settlement Guide to help EU children and young people better understand their legal rights after Brexit. It is aimed in particular at the estimated 5,000 EU citizen children in care, and those who have recently left the care system. The online service explains...
The Court of Appeal in ZA (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 146 has made a plea to lawyers to transfer their wrongful detention claims to the Queen’s Bench Division or County Court once the detention issue has been resolved. ZA’s case started life...
In O3 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] SN/147/2018, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has confirmed that, just like regular immigration detainees, those facing deportation on national security grounds are entitled to a presumption of bail. In deciding whether to grant bail to such detainees, the Commission...
Suella Braverman was appointed Attorney General today, replacing Geoffrey Cox QC. She is only the second woman to become the government’s chief legal adviser. The role also involves oversight of the Crown Prosecution Service and Government Legal Department. Braverman’s appointment is being seen as a sign of the government’s intent...
The Court of Appeal has confirmed that in order to benefit from the Surinder Singh principle, the family involved must have genuinely resided in another EU country and have created or fortified their family life there. In Kaur & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA...
Welcome to episode 73 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with asylum, in particular the new Iraq country guidance decision, before turning to the rebranded Global Talent visa and the latest on Brexit. There are a couple of disappointing cases on immigration detention to cover,...
The Home Office incorrectly put long-term UK residents on a removal list for the best part of a year, the immigration inspector has found. In a report published yesterday, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration reveals that for most of 2017, people refused the “right of abode” were...
In a pointed reminder, perhaps, to those in government threatening to “update” the Human Rights Act, Lady Hale began her Supreme Court judgment in the case of R (Jalloh) v SSHD [2020] UKSC 4 thus: The right to physical liberty was highly prized and protected by the common law long...
For those forced to make successive, increasingly-expensive applications just to remain in the country that they have made their home, naturalising as a British citizen is often the final rung of a very tall ladder. Like all ladders, the key to successfully climbing beyond the clutches of the Home Office...
In recent years the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) has displayed a willingness to allow late appeals and quash historic convictions to address injustice against victims of human trafficking. This includes using the common law to protect the rights of trafficking victims convicted of immigration offences before the statutory defence...
Shamima Begum is a citizen of Bangladesh and so would not be made stateless by being stripped of her British citizenship, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has held. The main SIAC judgment is Shamima Begum (Preliminary Issue : Substansive) [2020] UKSIAC SC_163_2019, while there is also a brief High Court...
The Home Office should release more details about a “cryptic” computer programme that scores visa applicants as high, medium and low risk, the immigration inspector has recommended. David Bolt says that while applicants labelled high risk are not being automatically refused visas, officials should “demystify” the tool to allay concerns...
An explosion in the number of firms given detention centre legal aid contracts has seriously diluted the quality of advice, according to the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID). BID says that that handing out contracts to dozens of often inexperienced solicitors’ firms instead of a few specialists has “led...
Reaction to the Migration Advisory Committee’s latest report, released on 28 January, has largely focused on the MAC’s lukewarm response to the government’s desire for an Australia-style points based immigration system. Very little attention has so far been paid to the MAC’s conclusions on the salary thresholds that underpin the...
The case of MM v NA (Declaration as to Marital Status) [2020] EWHC 93 (Fam) is very (very!) niche, but may be of interest to practitioners with clients who got married in Somaliland and wish to rely on that marriage for immigration purposes. Spoiler: that marriage is likely to be...
An experienced immigration lawyer has been struck off for failing to check whether a client qualified for legal aid and charging him without telling the firm she was working for. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Keisha Hackett, 43, had dishonestly hidden the fact that she took the client’s money,...
AB v Kent County Council [2020] EWHC 109 (Admin) is about whether an asylum seeker is entitled to the benefit of the doubt even where a local authority decides they are clearly over 18 and therefore does not carry out a full Merton age assessment. AB was not given a...
