When a self-employed EU citizen falls on hard times in another member state and stops working, do they retain their status as a worker? Since 2010, English courts have said they do not. In a case with wide implications for residence and social security rights, the Court of Justice of...
A Supreme Court decision handed down today is good news for people who have had their British citizenship taken away because it was obtained under false pretences. The Home Office has accepted that in most cases, deprivation rather than nullity is the correct process. Deprivation gives people stripped of citizenship...
A new report helps fill some of the gaps in our understanding of the situation facing young men sent back to Afghanistan, writes Maya Pritchard of Asylos. While we await the outcome of AS (Afghanistan), the country guidance case currently before the Upper Tribunal addressing the safety of Kabul, for...
Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell calls indefinite immigration detention “a wrong that stains our democracy“. But the immigration minister insists that it doesn’t exist. Witness the following exchange between the minister, Brandon Lewis, and the chair of the Home Affairs Committee on 21 November: Brandon Lewis: We don’t have indefinite detention....
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal has struck off an East London solicitor for abuse of the judicial review process. Azfar Naseem Bajwa, who practised as A Bajwa & Co in Whitechapel, was accused of filing hopeless JRs in order to get clients out of immigration detention. The tribunal found, in a decision...
The legal arguments on family life between adult children and parents are notoriously tricky. The guise in which the issue arose in Pun & Anr (Nepal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 2106 was whether non-dependent adult children could qualify under the Gurkha policy. The court...
The Home Office today published guidance for caseworkers on when to apply for a court order freezing the bank account of someone alleged to be in the UK unlawfully. A freezing order under section 40C(2) of the Immigration Act 2014 “prohibits each person and body by or for whom the...
In Mahmud (S. 85 NIAA 2002 – ‘new matters’) [2017] UKUT 488 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal, chaired by Mr Ockelton, decided that the tribunal cannot take into account a post-decision relationship and birth of a child in a human rights appeal without the consent of the Home Office. This is...
Welcome to the November 2017 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I cover a few bits of immigration news, several cases on detention and then run through some other case law. I end with a mention for some new explainer pieces we put together. The material...
Shittu v The Home Office [2017] EWCA Civ 1748 is a sad case which illustrates how difficult it is to bring legal challenges against the Home Office for using excessive force against migrants during the removal process. Civil claims against the Secretary of State in these circumstances turn on whether...
In R (on the application of Ahmed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (3C leave – whether “granted”) [2017] UKUT 489 (IAC) the tribunal holds as follows, according to the official headnote: Where a person who is present with leave as a Tier 4 student makes an application...
A month ago, Free Movement reported on the detention of Abdulrahman Mohammed. He was awarded the substantial sum of £78,500 by the High Court after being detained unlawfully by the Home Office. In a subsequent judgment, the same court has increased the amount the Home Office must pay, after it...
In KB & AH (credibility-structured approach) Pakistan [2017] UKUT 491 (IAC) the tribunal declined to give updated country guidance on the situation of Ahmadis in Pakistan because the case apparently turned on its own facts. This is often the case where the facts favour the appellant; where the facts favour...
Free Movement’s pick of the past week’s media reporting on immigration and asylum. The successful challenge to Home Office policy on rough sleepers from EU countries got top billing this week (see Sky News, among many others). Similarly widespread is the story of Kelvin Fawaz, the stateless boxing champion at risk...
The case of an Albanian couple living in Northern Ireland has been referred to Luxembourg over a conflict between English, Irish and European Union law. The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in their case could help thousands of other families to establish a right of...
Today’s decision in Anwar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 2134 confirms that if the Home Office wishes to impose visa conditions, it must give people written notice of those conditions. If the Home Office fails to do this, or is unable to produce evidence...
In an Upper Tribunal determination that will come as a surprise to no-one other than the judge whose decision was under appeal, President Lane has held that it is not possible for the tribunal to allow an appeal on a conditional basis. The case is HH (‘conditional’ appeal decisions) Somalia...
Welcome to the October 2017 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we look at a load of cases from Strasbourg, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal and of course the Upper Tribunal. These cases range from the sublime, including private religious worship, trafficking and torture,...
From the project description: Hundreds of thousands of decisions are made annually under the Immigration Rules. Decisions which can be life changing for those seeking entry or leave to remain in the UK and their families. But the Rules are widely criticised for being long, complex, and difficult to use....
The High Court decided today that the Home Office’s policy of detaining and deporting rough sleepers from EU countries is unlawful. The case is R (Gureckis) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 3298 (Admin), a judicial review challenge by three EEA nationals to their removal under...
In May this year, referring to the case of C-133/15 Chavez-Vilchez and Others v Netherlands, Colin wrote that the Court of Justice of the European Union has significantly extended Zambrano rights beyond those so far recognised by the Home Office and UK courts. The case undoubtedly represented a positive move...
In R (Decker) v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2017] EWCA Civ 1752, the Court of Appeal found that the Secretary of State must show her workings. She, and the immigration tribunals, must explicitly apply relevant tests set out in the EEA Regulations when making decisions....
The High Court has issued a helpful reminder to the Secretary of State that basic rules of procedural fairness continue to apply, even in the thorny context of removal windows and detention. In R (AT & Ors) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 2714 (Admin), HHJ Walden-Smith...
Some EU citizens now living in the UK will find themselves committing criminal offences after Brexit. That much is certain. How many people exactly will become unlawfully resident is probably impossible to calculate, and here at Free Movement we do not have the resources to do so, but the number...
Welcome to the September 2017 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month covers several cases, one from the Court of Appeal and the others from the Upper Tribunal. I’m also going to give a mention to some of our new explainers on different aspects of immigration law...
Most domestic workers would prefer to be recognised as workers than labelled as trafficked, and ask to be empowered rather than rescued. But it is often necessary to plead their cases under the rubric of trafficking to secure their protection from exploitation. Cases involving domestic workers are often of considerable...
Free Movement’s pick of the past week’s media reporting on immigration and asylum. Theresa May’s government reached agreement with the European Commission on a first stage Brexit deal, which covers citizens’ rights (charmingly painted by the Telegraph as “the price of freedom”). Brexiteers are already offering interpretations of the deal that are odds...
In the early hours of this morning the British government and European Commission agreed, to much media fanfare, a joint report on Brexit negotiations. The Commission will now recommend to the European Council – the 27 national leaders – that it should sign off on the deal. A conclusion at...
Just catching up on the Australian High Court (their Supreme Court) case on the ban on dual citizenship for holders of public office. If you have not been following it, the Australian constitution bans dual citizens from holding public office. The nationality laws of many countries, including the UK, automatically...
A Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC309 was laid yesterday, 7 December 2017. This note does not aim at detailing all the changes, instead just highlighting the most significant ones. Except where otherwise indicated, these changes will come into force on 11 January 2018, although applications made before 11...
New research helps practitioners identify best practice in representing female asylum seekers writes Debora Singer MBE, Senior Policy Adviser at Asylum Aid. What do women who have been through the asylum appeals process think of their legal representative? I liked the last experience … everyone was so positive … we’re...
Legislation meant to make life tougher for immigrant families accessing services may instead have brought some small relief. R (U and U) v Milton Keynes Council [2017] EWHC 3050 (Admin) was an application to judicially review Milton Keynes’ decision not to accommodate two Nigerian children, aged seven and eight. under...
R (Mudibo) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 1949 is yet another decision of the Court of Appeal grappling with the provisions of those familiar nemeses, section 117B and the “insurmountable obstacles” test in EX.1 of Appendix FM. Much of the judgment is unremarkable with...
Being able to demonstrate “a genuine and subsisting parental relationship” with a qualifying child is an essential requirement to succeed in a human rights appeal involving children. In Secretary of State for the Home Department v VC (Sri Lanka) [2017] EWCA Civ 1967 the Court of Appeal grappled with what...
The Court of Appeal has held in Ahsan v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Rev 1) [2017] EWCA Civ 2009 that people accused of cheating on the TOEIC English language test and threatened with removal from the UK have the right to challenge that decision in this country...
Like (I suspect) many other practitioners, I often find myself speaking to a client’s employer to explain to them why my client has the right to work. The most typical example is where a client has submitted an application by post before the expiry of their leave. The document showing...
