The number of cases of deprivation of British citizenship has risen sharply in recent years. For an in-depth look at the issues, see my earlier post on The rise of modern banishment: deprivation and nullification of British citizenship. The increasing use of the power by the Secretary of State has...
Campaigners seeking to confirm whether the UK’s Article 50 notification triggering Brexit can be unilaterally revoked are one step closer to getting a decision from the Court of Justice of the European Union. Yesterday the Inner House of the Court of Session granted permission to proceed in Wightman and others...
A pan-European alliance of NGOs has launched a new database allowing for easy comparison of how different European countries protect people left without citizenship of any country due to quirks in nationality law. The Statelessness Index covers a dozen European countries, including the United Kingdom. The European Network on Statelessness...
Businesses across the UK began receiving notification emails last week from the Home Office confirming that their applications for restricted certificates of sponsorship had been approved. This is because they had met an as yet unpublished points threshold. The Home Office has saved the bad news for today. Yet again there...
On 23 February 2018, the Home Office issued new guidance on dealing with applications for leave to remain on the basis of family life as a partner or parent or on the basis of private life, on a ten-year route to settlement. Under the heading “changes from last version of...
The Home Affairs Committee of MPs has announced that it is broadening an existing enquiry into the treatment of migrants held at Brook House detention centre to look at the detention system more widely. The influential committee, which is headed up by Labour heavyweight Yvette Cooper, said on Friday afternoon...
Short and sweet is the best way to describe the High Court’s decision in BS v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 454 (Admin). It comes as a useful reminder that whether detention is “reasonable” depends on all the circumstances of the case. In particular, the risk of a...
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. Far-right activists denied entry Last weekend, the Evening Standard and Mail picked up on the travails of three far-right YouTube stars excluded from the UK on the ground that their presence was not conducive to the...
A short Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC895 was laid yesterday, 15 March 2018. It makes minor changes to the Rules to take effect on 6 April. The explanatory memorandum summarises the tweaks as being to: Ensure that an asylum claim can be deemed inadmissible, and not be substantively...
The Ganges and Gurkha is the 60th most popular restaurant in Plymouth. It serves Nepalese and Indian food, and was shortlisted for the British Curry awards in 2013. In 2015, it had a Tier 2 sponsor licence, meaning that it could sponsor workers from overseas to come and work in...
A law centre solicitor who took money from clients seeking help with immigration and asylum problems has accepted his striking off the role of solicitors. Andrew John Puddicombe was employed by Gloucester Law Centre until November 2015, when management discovered that for three years he had been “charging clients on...
A group of charities and NGOs have launched a new guide on immigrants’ rights. It places with particular emphasis on coping with hostile environment measures designing to make life intolerable for undocumented migrants. Know Your Rights: A Guide for Migrants promises to help migrants “understand your rights in a situation where immigration rules...
Every few years another “good character” nationality case makes it to court. Usually they arise in the context of adults applying for naturalisation as British citizens at the Home Secretary’s discretion under section 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981, and invariably they concern criminal convictions (except for one, which...
The first round of immigration checks on migrants’ current accounts took place in January, with banks being required to check the immigration status of their customers against a Home Office database. Those flagged up as being in the UK unlawfully face having their account frozen or closed. Naturally enough, there...
The independent prison inspector has raised the alarm over the continued detention of migrants who the Home Office accepts have been tortured. A scathing inspection report also found “considerable failings” in safety and respect for detainees at the “prison-like” Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre near Heathrow. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons,...
On 1 March the Court of Appeal looked at Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in the context of a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) appeal. Although the appeal was dismissed, the court confirmed that running a business may amount to private life for the purposes of Article 8....
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. Transgender asylum seekers Leila Zadeh of the UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group and Paul Dillane of rights group Kaleidescope Trust are quoted in a Guardian piece covering attacks on LGBTI people in asylum accommodation....
The case of AB, R (On the Application Of) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 383 has unusual facts, but an unsurprising conclusion: the Home Office cannot grant asylum to someone who is not in the UK. The background is not really important but...
An adult who is not a British citizen can apply to become one. This process is known as naturalisation. People will normally be eligible to apply for naturalisation under section 6 of the British Nationality Act 1981 if they: are 18 or over are of “good character” meet the knowledge...
Campaign groups are fighting for better protection of migrants’ personal data on multiple fronts this month. Last week came news that permission had been granted in a judicial review of data sharing arrangements between the Home Office and the NHS. As we reported before Christmas, the Migrants’ Rights Network argues...
The Court of Appeal in Tanvir Babar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 329 dealt with the application of Immigration Rule 276B. The court highlighted the tensions between the Home Office policy, the application of the Immigration Rule and the weight that needs to be...
We recently covered the case taken by British migrants living in the Netherlands that had, it appeared, succeeded in its aim of getting the Court of Justice of the European Union to decide whether their EU citizenship survives Brexit. The headline was British migrants trying to keep EU citizenship get...
A Home Office letter handed to hunger strikers at Yarl’s Wood detention centre casts doubt on the department’s simultaneous insistence that the refusal of food may be for non-political reasons. Last week, Home Office minister Baroness Williams of Trafford suggested that the 120 women refusing food and fluid at the notorious facility might...
At a time when immigration practitioners are facing a wave of referrals and allegations of misconduct, the Upper Tribunal’s decision in Shah (‘Cart’ judicial review: nature and consequences) [2018] UKUT 51 (IAC) comes as another timely reminder that judges are in no mood to deal with haphazard or slapdash appeals...
Barrister Adam Wagner founded the widely acclaimed UK Human Rights Blog at 1 Crown Office Row in 2010. He went on to found RightsInfo, an online platform that aims to build knowledge and support for human rights, and now practises out of Doughty Street Chambers. Both initiatives speak to his...
In JM (Zimbabwe), R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 188 the Court of Appeal grappled with an interesting point on the proper interpretation of paragraph 403(c) of the Immigration Rules. Paragraph 403 deals with the grant of leave to stateless...
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. There weren’t as many as usual, although it was another big week in Brexit. Yarl’s Wood Last Friday, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott visited Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre, scene of a hunger strike by...
My sincere thanks to the hundreds of readers who filled in the Free Movement reader survey this year. The feedback was more positive than I dared hope for, and the suggestions for improvements wonderful. Those interested can peruse the results for themselves. This post, running a severe risk of bragging,...
The Court of Appeal has lit a distress beacon on damages for wrongful detention, with Lady Justice Arden signalling that the Supreme Court should look again at case law that denies a remedy to people detained on the basis of Home Office decisions that turned out to be unlawful. The...
Following on from Basnet (validity of application – respondent) [2012] UKUT 113 (IAC) (President Blake) and Mitchell (Basnet revisited) [2015] UKUT 562 (IAC) (Deputy President Ockleton) we now have Ahmed & Ors (valid application – burden of proof) [2018] UKUT 53 (IAC) (President Lane). All three cases concern the effect...
The European Commission has published a draft legal text for a Brexit “Withdrawal Agreement”. It includes the all-important issue of citizens’ rights for EU nationals already living in the UK or arriving here before Brexit is finalised. This draft is not a final treaty or necessarily the version that EU...
Navi Ahluwalia died peacefully after an illness on Saturday night. The announcement and a short tribute can be seen on the Garden Court Chambers website. The AIRE Centre, with which Navi was closely associated throughout his legal career, have also posted a tribute. Navi and I were colleagues at Garden...
Part 4 of the Immigration Act 2014 introduced a referral and investigation scheme for proposed marriages and civil partnerships involving a non-EEA national who could gain an immigration advantage from their nuptials. Under this scheme, register offices must refer all proposed marriages and civil partnerships to the Home Office if...
Last week the Court of Appeal dealt with the issue of fairness and discretion in the context of the Points Based System. Specifically, it decided that such values take a firm second place to predictability. The case is R (Dharmeshkumar Bhupendrabhai Patel & Anor) v Secretary of State for the...
The recent decision in R (SB (Afghanistan)) v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 215 concerned the removal of an Afghan asylum seeker last year. As the judgment records, the case generated a significant amount of media attention amid reports that it had taken place in breach of a High Court order,...
Welcome to the January 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I start with a follow-up to the Immigration Rules changes covered last month and discuss the commencement of the immigration bail provisions of the Immigration Act 2016. I go on to look at the application...
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. Visa quota Last Sunday’s Guardian carried news “Britain has hit its cap on visas for skilled non-European workers for an unprecedented third month in a row”, referring to restricted certificates of sponsorship under Tier 2. This was originally...
Making an immigration application for clients is all in a day’s work, but working on your own wife’s visa is enough to reduce even an expert to tears, writes an anonymous Free Movement contributor. While courting my wife during a sabbatical abroad, I would worry about things like whether I...
