The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (’OISC’) has published their response to last year’s consultation on the code of standards. Under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 it is a criminal offence to give immigration advice unless you are properly regulated. For those who are not practicing solicitors, barristers...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! On the asylum front, things are still relatively quiet but this is very much the calm before the storm, as the Rwanda Bill is expected to pass next week. We will then hopefully at least get some clarity as to how the government intends to...
On 13 March 2024, in AUS v R [2024] EWCA Crim 322, the Court of Appeal quashed the 2010 conviction of a Somali citizen who was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for possession of a false identity document, contrary to s25(1) of the Identity Cards Act 2006. The applicant was...
Closing date Friday 26 April 17:00 About OTB Legal OTB Legal are a specialist UK immigration Law Firm, recognised by the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. At our core, we defy the conventional cliché of Solicitors. Our commitment lies in transforming complex immigration laws into simple solutions with the...
The Upper Tribunal has found that Appendix EU (Family Permit) requires those coming to the UK under these rules to be joining the relevant EEA national, and that it is not enough to be in the same country and joining their spouse only. The case is MD and Others (‘joining’,...
If a European national receives a criminal conviction arising from conduct which took place before the Brexit cut-off date, how can they rely on those previous EU rules in an appeal against deportation? The question is important because of the very large difference in the protections afforded by the previous...
The Court of Appeal has told the Ministry of Defence that they must reconsider whether an Afghan former Supreme Court judge is eligible for resettlement to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). This was following an unsuccessful appeal by the Home Secretary and the Defence Secretary...
In recent months two cohorts of young people, those granted ‘Calais leave’ and those granted leave under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, have begun to reach the end of five years’ limited leave to remain. The immigration rules currently provide a route to either further limited leave or...
CLOSING DATE: 25 April 2024 JOB TITLE: Children and Young People’s Asylum Solicitor/ Caseworker LOCATION: Asylum Aid Office (London) RESPONSIBLE TO: Immigration Supervisor CONTRACT: Permanent, full time (37.5 hours) – part-time working considered (minimum 30 hours per week) SALARY: £34,000 p.a. (pro rata if part time) BENEFITS: 27 days holiday...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Over the weekend, the number of people who have crossed the Channel to the UK by small boat reached 5,435. This is a 43% increase from the same time last year. Although all of these arrivals would be blocked from the asylum system if...
This article explains how to make a successful change of conditions application where a person needs to lift the no recourse to public funds restriction (NRPF) from their grant of leave. This article is written for applicants as well as for the lawyers and advisors who may be assisting in...
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has published its annual report for the year 2022/23. One of the key points made is that the number of new immigration advisers is said to be rising, but not rapidly enough to meet even-faster rising demand for immigration law advice. This...
The High Court has dismissed a judicial review raised by an Albanian national challenging a negative reasonable grounds (first stage) decision in his trafficking claim, finding that his employer did not have the intention to exploit him at the point of recruitment. The case is R (MT) v Secretary of...
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report An inspection of the immigration system as it relates to the social care sector’ has been published and has identified some serious shortcomings in the sponsor licence process for the sector, while noting that the Home Office has started putting systems...
A consultation has been launched by the Home Office on a major increase to OISC registration fees. The deadline for responses is 5 June 2024. Fees currently bring in around £1.3 million and the OISC costs around £2.2 million to run. The increase is intended to close that gap so...
The High Court has heard three Hamid referrals, two of which concerned asylum cases and one of those resulted in a referral to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Given the professional implications, any practitioner reading this should already be well aware of the Hamid jurisdiction, which is essentially a disciplinary process...
The Court of Appeal has upheld the Upper Tribunal’s decision that those who applied for the wrong type of family permit before the end of the Brexit transition period cannot benefit from the EU Settlement Scheme or the EU Withdrawal Agreement. The decision is Siddiqa v Entry Clearance Officer [2024]...
The Upper Tribunal has held that a person who was on immigration bail is unable to rely on the exemption from needing to hold a relevant document (showing that the Home Office had already recognised residence as a durable partner) where a person otherwise had a lawful basis of stay...
On 14 March 2024 the government published its latest statement of changes to the immigration rules, which included changes to a number of UK immigration categories. The most significant changes were to implement the plans laid out by the Home Secretary in December. These include raising the minimum income requirements...
The Upper Tribunal has dismissed the appeal of an Iraqi man who had falsely claimed to be Iranian in his first asylum claim. The appellant had returned to Iraq in 2012 when that claim was unsuccessful, before returning to the UK and making a fresh claim in January 2020. He...
This week the Sentencing Council published new draft sentencing guidelines for immigration offences within the Immigration Act 1971 and Identity Documents Act 2010. This includes offences expanded by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. Previously, there had been no formal guidelines for these offences. The draft guidelines have been published...
Closing Date: 2nd April 2024 Vacancy for a full-time paralegal Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP is a niche private immigration and nationality practice, rated Band 1 by both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. We are seeking to appoint a paralegal to support the solicitors at the firm with their...
There was a notable omissions from last year’s immigration application fee increase, namely limited leave to remain applications (i.e. under Appendix FM). The Immigration, Nationality and Passport (Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 will bring in increases to those applications from 24 July 2024 and several others, including some that were increased...
The Home Office has updated its guidance on voluntary returns, now re-named voluntary departures which now includes the possibility of sending those who agree to a safe third country. Although not explicitly named in the guidance, the intention is clearly to try to get people to agree to go to...
The National Audit Office has published a report ‘Investigation into asylum accommodation’, looking at the Home Office’s plans and progress in increasing the amount of asylum accommodation available. In the financial year to March 2024 the Home Office anticipates spending £4.7 billion on asylum support, £3.1 billion of which is...
On 11 March 2024, the President and Vice-President of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) handed down their decision in R (Mark Nelson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (JR-2023-001472), the first challenge to the Home Secretary’s policy of requiring people on immigration bail to be monitored...
The latest instalment of the Akinsanya litigation, which looks at the entitlement of Zambrano carers to leave under Appendix EU has been decided by the High Court in Akinsanya & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 469 (Admin). Both appellants...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Last week, in the latest demonstration of confidence in its ability to forcibly send people to Rwanda, the government rolled out a new version of the voluntary returns guidance that provides for people to be returned to a third country (i.e. Rwanda) and...
A new Annex 2 has been added to the Workers and Temporary Workers: guidance for sponsors part 2: sponsor a worker – general information document with some important information, particularly on Defined Certificate of Sponsorship applications and on using certificates of sponsorship by 7pm on 2 April 2024. These changes...
Six months after the Brook House Inquiry published its report, the Home Secretary has responded. The response seeks to create distance from the events in 2017 that prompted the inquiry, as though it was an isolated incident, stating: “Further improvements have been made since the events of 2017 to uphold...
In the context of British nationality law, EEA citizens residing in the UK from 2 October 2000 continue to not meet the definition of “settled”, unless they held indefinite leave to remain or had acquired permanent residence. This was confirmed last week by the Court of Appeal in R (on...
Employers who sponsor migrant workers must comply with a number of sponsor duties to avoid breaching the conditions of their licence. Last year, effective from March 2023, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) announced that it expected sponsors to report hybrid and remote working patterns. Given that many employers allow flexibility...
The government continues to try to maintain its ability to redact the names of junior civil servants in judicial review proceedings and the courts continue to tell them that they cannot do this. The latest instalment is MTA, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home...
Closing Date: Sunday 31st March 2024 Hours: 37.5 per week Salary: £26,000 – £29,000 per annum Location: Coventry About the Role As the Immigration Caseworker, you will manage a caseload of clients. You will work closely with other members of the Legal branch to offer the best advice and service...
An appellant did not act dishonestly when he applied for British citizenship and answered ‘no’ when asked whether there was anything that might cast into doubt his good character. This was despite him being arrested four weeks after citizenship was granted and later pleading guilty to an offence that took...
As previously advised, today a statement of changes and explanatory memorandum to the immigration rules was published to bring in the income threshold increases for both skilled worker and Appendix FM partner routes. The immigration minister made a statement summarising the changes relating to the skilled worker, Appendix FM partner,...
British Red Cross have published a new report on the lack of legal aid assistance available to people in the immigration and asylum system, following a UK wide review of the sector’s capacity to assist with asylum questionnaires and immigration matters. In July 2023 251 firms were contacted in Scotland,...
The latest tribunal quarterly statistics show a very sharp increase in the number of asylum appeals lodged in the First-tier Tribunal in the period October to December 2023. This is due to the considerable increase in the number of Home Office asylum decisions during that time. Waiting times for asylum...
