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The two-year post study work visa has returned from the dead, apparently. Multiple statements, from the Prime Minister, the Business Secretary, the Department for Education and, last and least, the Home Office have been released announcing the resurrection of a visa originally introduced in 2004 and killed off by Theresa...

11th September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

We are seeking a bright and motivated person to manage immigration casework at Fernandes Vaz, a specialist immigration and nationality law firm based in Wembley. You must have at least proven experience in casework and be able to manage your own workload. Accuracy and attention to detail are important factors....

11th September 2019
BY Free Movement

A new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules was published yesterday, 9 September 2019. This post will cover changes to work and student visa routes, while a separate post deals with changes to the EU Settlement Scheme and other changes brought about by Brexit. Except where indicated otherwise, these changes...

10th September 2019
BY Nath Gbikpi

Yesterday afternoon the government dropped statement of changes to the Immigration Rules HC 2631. This is a formal change to the Immigration Rules and there is a lot to it: the full version weighs in at 102 pages. We’ll deal with other changes in another post (or posts) but here...

10th September 2019
BY Chris Desira

The Johnson ‘government’ has reaffirmed that free movement rules will continue if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October. A new voluntary (Ed. – !?!) immigration scheme will be introduced called the European Temporary Leave to Remain Scheme, or “Euro TLR” to its (few) friends. From...

9th September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

This is an update on UK citizens’ and residents’ access to healthcare in the EEA and Switzerland if a no-deal Brexit happens on 31 October 2019. The people who will be affected are those for whom the UK is currently paying for their healthcare in another EEA state or Switzerland...

9th September 2019
BY David Neale

When the word ‘chaotic’ no longer seems to adequately describe a situation you know things are getting bad.  The government’s announcement and subsequent hasty retraction of its intention to end free movement on 1 November 2019 has served only to amplify levels of anxiety amongst EU nationals and the wider...

6th September 2019
BY Joanna Hunt

Here follows a shameless plug for a book to which I have contributed a chapter on deprivation and nullification of British citizenship. It is edited by the excellent Devyani Prabhat at the University of Bristol (do follow her on Twitter) and the various chapters consider the evolution of the contemporary...

5th September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

The long suffering Migration Advisory Committee, or ‘MAC’ to its friends, has been commissioned to carry out yet another review. Back in June 2019 the MAC were asked by one Home Secretary to think again about salary thresholds for skilled workers. This time they are being asked by a different...

5th September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

Migrants’ Law ProjectSolicitor/Caseworker/Barrister Salary Band £34,986 – £38,404A salary of £44,373 may be considered for those at Supervisor level with high levels of experience and expertise Annual leave: 25 days per annum plus bank holidays The Migrants’ Law Project are looking for a solicitor, caseworker, or barrister to join our...

4th September 2019
BY Free Movement

A new revised guidance note for judges has been published by some other judges: Joint Presidential Guidance 2019 No 1: Permission to appeal to UTIAC. Paragraph 31 seems wrong to me, or at least inexactly phrased: If a FtT judge considering an application for permission to appeal is in doubt...

3rd September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

The cost of making an immigration or nationality application has risen extremely steeply in recent years. Annual increases of 20% or 25% per year became standard, bringing the current cost of an application for indefinite leave to remain (aka settlement) to £2,389. The actual cost of processing such an application...

3rd September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

The Government yesterday rowed back on the bonkers idea floated by Home Secretary Priti Patel two weeks ago to end free movement of EU citizens into the UK on 31 October 2019. Apart from the obvious problem of having to invent and implement a new immigration system in a matter...

2nd September 2019
BY Colin Yeo

People in immigration detention can make an application for Secretary of State bail directly to the Home Office. The Home Office has the same powers as the immigration tribunal to grant bail and manage its conditions. Is it worth applying? An application to the Secretary of State for immigration bail...

2nd September 2019
BY Jennifer Blair

You walk into court, lever arch folders tucked safely under each arm. You’ve tried to be organised and posted copies of your bundles weeks in advance. You’re part way through your submissions, furiously referring to this, that and the other whilst the judge is looking at you with a raised...

30th August 2019
BY Bilaal Shabbir

The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said last week that free movement for EU nationals will end on 31 October 2019 unless there is a Brexit deal. Media reports indicate that she intends to repeal EU free movement law from day one of a no-deal Brexit, replacing it with new rules...

29th August 2019
BY Alexandra Sinclair

Following Priti Patel’s recent comments about the immediate end of free movement following a no-deal Brexit, the Home Office sent an email reassuring EU citizens that they will continue to be eligible to remain in the UK so long as they apply for the settled status scheme. What the email...

28th August 2019
BY Chris Desira

A solicitor convicted for his part in a notorious visa scam has been struck off. Sheikh Muhammad Usman, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for conspiring to get people leave to remain under false identities, will be unable to resume practise upon release. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal said that...

28th August 2019
BY CJ McKinney

ATLEU job vacancy — Head of Legal Practice Hours: 35 per week (flexible and part-time working considered) Salary: circa £36,000 plus 5% employer pension contribution Leave: 28 days including bank holidays Location: London / Sheffield (regular travel required) This is an exciting opportunity to join the award winning legal charity...

27th August 2019
BY Free Movement

You’ve just had a fantastic summer holiday in, let’s say, Greece — away from the daily grind, the misery of Brexit and British summertime weather. Sunshine every day, beach swimming, late nights, great wine, even better food. You’re basically 90% gyros by this point, but it’s all right, it’s a...

27th August 2019
BY John Vassiliou

An important Office for National Statistics (ONS) report released this week provides revised figures for EU and non-EU net migration since 2009. Here’s my take on what the key points of the report are. It has been clear for some time that something wasn’t quite right in the headline net...

23rd August 2019
BY Madeleine Sumption

There have been just four applications for the government’s flagship new visa for overseas entrepreneurs in its first three months of operation. Only four people applied for an Innovator visa between April and June 2019, according to the latest Home Office figures. By contrast, the visa it replaced — Tier...

22nd August 2019
BY CJ McKinney

The Court of Appeal has held that the UK government can be asked to pay expenses where a judicial review has been brought against the Upper Tribunal’s refusal to grant permission to appeal. The test case of Faqiri v Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) [2019] EWCA Civ 151 has...

22nd August 2019
BY Bilaal Shabbir

Since 2016 there has been no minimum CPD training hours requirement and training can be undertaken by any training provider or even by informal methods including self study. The rules for solicitors, barristers and OISC advisers are all broadly similar and were all changed at around the same time. The...

22nd August 2019
BY colinyeo

Immigration lawyers often find themselves at the centre of employment law disputes where the employee’s immigration status appears to be crucial to the legality of their employment. In such cases the stakes are usually very high and the pressure on all concerned can be huge. Whilst the employee will be...

21st August 2019
BY Nichola Carter

The way that I tell clients to treat this kind of evidence gathering process is… don’t treat it as an evidence gathering process. It may sound a little corny, but treat it as a celebration of your relationship so far. You’re telling a story to someone of how you met,...

20th August 2019
BY CJ McKinney

Confusion abounds after Dominic Cummings sources close to Home Secretary Priti Patel told the Telegraph and Independent over the weekend that free movement of EU citizens would end the day after a no-deal exit on 31 October 2019. While at first glance it seems very unlikely that this means anything...

19th August 2019
BY Chris Desira

Asylum appeals will be filed and managed entirely online from next year, the courts and tribunals service for England and Wales has said. HMCTS told Free Movement that it plans to roll out its “reformed digital asylum service” to all hearing centres at the end of January 2020. The digital...

19th August 2019
BY CJ McKinney

Regulation 33 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/1052) does not wrongfully exclude the ordinary principles applicable in interim relief applications. It does not exclude them at all. So held Mr Justice Murray in R (Yuri Mendes) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC...

16th August 2019
BY Alison Harvey

We’ve been busy working away at creating new CPD immigration training courses and updating our existing ones. Our courses are perfect for CPD for solicitors, barristers and OISC advisers and we now offer over 100 hours of CPD training to our 2,500+ members, covering all aspects and all levels of...

15th August 2019
BY Colin Yeo

An immigration judge has rejected an asylum seeker’s claim to be gay, saying that the man did not come across as “effeminate” enough to be credible. According to a lawyer involved in the case, the judge wrote that the man did not have a gay “demeanour” and did not “look...

15th August 2019
BY CJ McKinney

O v R [2019] EWCA Crim 1389 is the latest of a series of appeals brought by victims of trafficking against historic convictions. In this case the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) decided to quash a 2008 conviction because the prosecution had not even considered whether bringing O to court...

14th August 2019
BY Alex Schymyck

Role: Immigration Caseworker/Solicitor Hours: part-time 18.5 hrs Based: at our Coventry Office Salary: negotiable up to £29,704 pro rata based on experience and qualifications We seek an experienced caseworker to manage a specialist immigration and asylum advice service for victims of domestic violence. Central England Law Centre is the UK’s...

13th August 2019
BY Free Movement

Boris Johnson announced seemingly sweeping changes to the UK immigration system for scientists on 8 August 2019. Behind the usual rhetoric about attracting the “brightest and the best”, the reality is a lot less dramatic and potentially a lot less meaningful for the future of science in the UK. If...

13th August 2019
BY Naomi Hanrahan-Soar

Every immigration lawyer in the UK will, at least once in their career, be sat in front of a nonchalant non-visa national (usually American, Canadian or Australian) who is blissfully unaware that they have either overstayed their leave as a visitor, breached the conditions of their leave as a visitor,...

12th August 2019
BY John Vassiliou

In Rauf v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWCA Civ 1276, the Home Office cited the incorrect part of the Immigration Rules in curtailing a student visa. The failure of Mr Rauf’s appeal reminds us that it’s extremely difficult to prove unfairness in immigration cases. Mr Rauf...

12th August 2019
BY Pip Hague
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