The Home Affairs Committee of MPs today published its report on whether or not the Home Office has the capacity to deliver effective immigration services once the UK leaves the European Union next March. No, is the short answer. Not a lot of love from @CommonsHomeAffs Valentine's Day report on...
The Court of Appeal has held in PK (Ghana) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 98 that the criterion of “compelling personal circumstances” for a grant of limited leave as a trafficked person in the Secretary of State’s guidance failed properly to reflect Article 14(1)(a) of...
A solicitor has been suspended from practice for 18 months, and his brother heavily fined, in the latest disciplinary ruling over tactical judicial reviews designed to frustrate deportations. Malik Mohammed Saleem and Malik Mohammed Nazeer, of London firm Malik & Malik, were sanctioned by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal following a...
Free Movement deputy editor Conor James McKinney has been exploring the day-to-day workings of the immigration tribunals. Above is a discussion with Emily Dugan of BuzzFeed News, a journalist with a long-standing interest in immigration and asylum issues whose latest report on the subject was published over the weekend. Below...
Are there adequate procedures and protections for mentally ill migrants in detention centres who wish to challenge the lawfulness of their detention? No, said the Court of Appeal in R (VC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 57. Detention centres have long been considered the...
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. “De-risking” closes migrant accounts The Guardian‘s business section raises concerns about immigrants’ bank accounts being closed down, with some financial institutions accused of “dumping customers and organisations with links to countries about which they have...
Job Summary A boutique immigration law firm based in the heart of London’s Mayfair is currently looking for an experienced immigration lawyer. Applicants must hold level 1 OISC / LSC accreditation or better and/or be actively working towards the same. An Immigration Caseworker occupies a vital place within our...
The Supreme Court yesterday held in the case of B (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] UKSC 5 that the Home Office cannot impose bail conditions on a migrant who cannot be lawfully detained. Or, at least, the Home Office could not do so at the...
The Supreme Court has opened up British citizenship by double descent to all children born to British women in non-Commonwealth countries between 1949 and 1983. Delivering a judgment which makes no attempt to disguise his academic interests as a historian, Lord Sumption delivered a simple solution to a question of...
Around 1.3 million British citizens are currently settled in other EU member states, but do not have citizenship of those countries. Just like EU citizens living in the UK, they can do this by relying on free movement rights granted by the EU. Speaking precisely, Article 20 of the Treaty...
The Upper Tribunal is on the hunt for examples of Home Office delay in formally responding to judicial review cases taken against it. Immigration and Asylum Chamber President Peter Lane is keen to look again at the 2014 Kumar decision that granted government lawyers considerable leniency in filing acknowledgement of...
Another five salaried judges have been appointed to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) in the past fortnight, all to be based in London. Joe Neville, 37, solicitor turned barrister. A former legal blogger – which activity is actually permitted by the judicial conduct guidelines – focusing on employment law,...
The Brexit vote to leave the EU has caused huge anxiety amongst EU citizens and their family members living in the UK. The UK government continues to advise these citizens not to make applications for proof that they have the right to permanent residence under EU law. It is asking...
The government has announced that the controversial health surcharge paid by applicants for entry clearance or leave to remain is to double. The main rate will go from £200 a year to £400 a year, with students and those on the Youth Mobility Scheme paying £300 (up from £150). Immigration health...
The Court of Appeal last week issued “authoritative guidance” on Article 3 medical challenges against removal, reflecting the European Court of Human Rights’s decision in Paposhvili v Belgium. Lord Justice Sales, giving the court’s judgment in AM (Zimbabwe) & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA...
Another bumper week – but then, immigration and asylum are hardly ever out of the headlines these days. EU citizens in immigration detention The number of EEA nationals held in immigration detention has increased sharply in recent years, from 768 in 2009 to 4,701 in 2016, according to figures secured by the...
Welcome to the December 2017 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I cover some changes to the Immigration Rules, the latest Brexit developments and a trio of decisions on deportation. I then mention two cases at the Court of Justice of the European Union – one...
In many cases, employers who wish to hire Tier 2 skilled workers must pass the Resident Labour Market Test. This means that Tier 2 sponsors must offer a position to a settled worker ahead of a migrant where both candidates have the necessary skills and experience. Discrimination, but the acceptable...
Campaigners are marking Saturday 17 February as a celebration of migrants and migration in the UK. One Day Without Us is organising various events and rallies around the country, but latte-loving metropolitans like me are urged to gather in Parliament Square that afternoon (here’s the Facebook event). The organisers say:...
The web of Rules and Guidance has become so tangled that even the spider has difficulty controlling it. So says Lord Justice Underhill in Mudiyanselage v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 65, the latest decision in a long lineage examining the much maligned Points Based...
Countries are being declared safe for refugees to return to, but only if they have criminal records, a new report by the government’s immigration inspector suggests. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, found that the Home Office unit that investigates migrants with criminal records is routinely...
In the High Court last month, Mrs Justice Moulder found that the Home Office had gathered partly unreliable intelligence in the course of an investigation into a college, breaching its right to peaceful enjoyment of its Tier 4 sponsor licence under Article 1 Protocol 1 of the European Convention on...
The Home Office is struggling to control the cost of legal fees and compensation for immigration cases, an independent report says. One of the three inspection reports released today by David Bolt, Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, raises concerns about the department’s “ability to control its expenditure in...
The head of the organisation that regulates immigration advisers has hit out at the Home Office, accusing the department of failing to make basic decisions about what the regulator is allowed to do. Dr Ian Leigh said that “unacceptable delay in decision-making on the part of the Home Office on...
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has urged the Home Office to fundamentally overhaul the country of origin information it gives to officials making asylum decisions. David Bolt’s latest report, published today, says that the department “needs to examine whether the current format and contents of [Country Policy...
When an asylum seeker returns to an EU member state they’ve previously been transferred from under the Dublin III regulation, how should their application for international protection be processed? The Court of Justice of the European Union in C-160/16 Hasan has clarified a number of significant procedural points in the...
In R (RSM (A Child)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 18 the Court of Appeal considered the ambit of Article 17 of the Dublin III regulation, the so-called “discretionary clause”, and found it to be narrow indeed. The challenge RSM, an unaccompanied child in...
Here’s your round-up of the immigration and asylum stories that made national headlines this week. Slavery law enforcement The Guardian has used Freedom of Information requests to establish that seven police forces have laid no charges under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 since it came into force. Section 2 of that Act makes...
In today’s case of C‑473/16 F v Bevándorlási és Állampolgársági Hivatal, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that national authorities may not prepare and use psychologists’ expert reports to assess the sexual identity of an asylum seeker. I personally find the fact that this issue went to...
In the midst of an “NHS crisis”, with two in three hospitals said to have a shortage of doctors, immigration laws appear to be making the situation worse. Last week iNews reported that dozens of medics with offers to work in the NHS had their visa applications refused. Even more...
One of the fundamental principles of the rule of law is that the law “must be accessible and so far as possible intelligible, clear and predictable” (Tom Bingham, The Rule of Law, 2010). The reasons for this should be self evident. Just as it is impossible to play a sport...
A challenge to the lawfulness of immigration detention in R (Shote) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 87 (Admin), decided today, was unsuccessful. But Michael Fordham QC, sitting as a Deputy High Court judge, declined to make a costs order against the claimant: My reason for...
In A v Switzerland (application no. 60342/16), the European Court of Human Rights considered the risk of ill treatment on return to Iran for Christian converts. In this case the applicant had converted to Christianity whilst seeking asylum in Switzerland; a sur place asylum claim. The applicant was unsuccessful, primarily on...
Immigration Solicitor £30,000 — £50,000 pa depending on experience — Full-time, Permanent We offer the right candidate the possibility of developing skills and career progression. You will get to work on various and challenging immigration cases with a great team and alongside highly experienced barristers while dealing with complex matters...
What procedure should be followed when someone is deprived of British citizenship, at a time when he or she is abroad, to enable return to the UK to participate in a statutory appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC)? Should judicial review proceedings be initiated to seek an interim...
