Should the Home Office read all of the supporting evidence sent in with an application? The High Court provided a predictable answer in the case of R (Gayle) v SSHD [2017] EWHC 3385 (Admin), which considered the tragic personal circumstances of the claimant, Marie Gayle, and whether the decision to...
The government needs to do more to challenge myths and misconceptions about the impact of immigration to the UK, a new report by a committee of MPs says. In a wide-ranging survey of the political landscape, the influential Home Affair Committee recommends a “more proactive” approach to fake news on...
Eleven salaried immigration judges have been appointed to the First-tier Tribunal. They are as follows: London Neeti Haria, 55, solicitor. Previously held various fee-paid roles, including in the immigration and asylum chamber. John Keith, 43, solicitor. Head of employment law at BT, also with experience as a fee-paid immigration and...
Job Title: Solicitor – Immigration (NQ – 2 years PQE) Organisation: Drummond Miller LLP Website: www.drummondmiller.co.uk Location: City Centre, Glasgow Deadline for Applications: 26th January 2018 Salary: Competitive Contact: Sam Leek Due to growth we have an exciting opportunity for a solicitor to join our leading Immigration practice. Within this...
In order to improve the service Free Movement provides to both members and casual readers I have made a number of changes to the website in the last year. I have recruited an assistant and then also CJ McKinney as deputy editor. I touched on these in the recent annual...
Before I get into this week’s press coverage of immigration issues, an older piece I think I missed at the time. Before Christmas, Labour MP Kate Osamor visited an immigration removal centre – coyly unnamed, but “within earshot of an airport” – and wrote a powerful account of the visit...
New research shows that the immigration insecurity of one family member now affects whole families, including children and citizens who are not themselves subject to immigration control, writes Dr Melanie Griffiths of the University of Bristol. This week, the University of Bristol published three policy briefings arising from new research...
Some excitement at this opinion of Advocate General Wathelet at the Court of Justice of the European Union: According to Advocate General Wathelet, the term ‘spouse’ includes, in the light of the freedom of residence of citizens of the EU and their family members, spouses of the same sex. Although...
How can you win £266,536.14 in damages and walk away without a penny? If those who should pay succeed in divesting themselves of their assets and if the costs of litigation swallow up all that you do manage to recover. R (Tirkey) v The Director of Legal Aid Casework &...
Last month the Court of Appeal considered the rules governing deportation of foreign criminals. The case is Secretary of State for the Home Department v SC (Jamaica) [2017] EWCA Civ 2112, which concerned a Jamaican national originally granted asylum as a dependant of his mother in 2003. The court considers...
Caroline Nokes MP is the new Minister of State for Immigration at the Home Office. Caroline Nokes MP attends Cabinet as Minister of State for Immigration @UKHomeOffice #CabinetReshuffle pic.twitter.com/znTKowS45M — UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) January 8, 2018 Despite speculation that the job would go to outspoken Brexiteer and human rights...
Hidden within December’s statement of changes (HC309) to the Immigration Rules are new provisions that will affect how the Home Office assesses continuous residence for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) applications. Certain visa categories require an applicant to show they have been “continually resident” in the UK over a five...
Private immigration barristers/solicitors Salary: £35,000-£40,000/starting per annum Location: Hall Green, City and Borough of Birmingham Company: UK Migration Lawyers Ltd Description We are looking to recruit two senior Immigration Barristers and / or Lawyers to join our niche Birmingham based team. We are seeking candidates with senior immigration law experience...
This is your weekly digest of immigration and asylum stories that have appeared in major news outlets (as distinct from specialist information, which you’ll always find on Free Movement already). I’ve been posting this on Monday mornings, but am going to try writing it on Fridays instead as I think...
Recent statistics on asylum grants to gay people represent a breakthrough rather than a breakdown in the system – acting as a sword, rather than shield, in advancing protection of queer refugees, argues S Chelvan of No5 Barristers Chambers. Long-awaited experimental statistics on asylum claims based on sexual orientation were...
The Secretary of State’s decision to revoke an IT consultancy’s Tier 2 sponsor licence was upheld before Christmas in R (Sri Prathinik Consulting Limited) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 3204 (Admin). A stream of case law was cited, most notably Lord Justice Tomlinson’s leading judgment...
The year 2017 was not one that much troubled the goats, at least those hircine heroes whose hirsute hides historicise immigration legislation; 2017 will see no major Act of Parliament written in vellum which directly affects immigration law, unlike the years 2014 and 2016. Instead, 2017 turned out to be...
The refugee definition Engagement of the CJEU with asylum issues Since the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union was expanded to include asylum matters, we have a fairly steady rise in the number of judgments on these issues. Most concern procedural measures which are specific to...
Selective participation in CEAS Participation in the Common European Asylum System is not necessarily “all or nothing”, nor does it absolutely require membership of the EU. Even within the EU, involvement in CEAS is also selective in some cases. However, it is doubtful that selective participation would be possible by...
The issue of asylum and the refugee crisis in Europe played a very significant part in the debate on Britain’s continuing membership of the European Union in the run up to the Brexit referendum in June 2016. Many commentators consider that the issue of immigration proved decisive, in fact, and...
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...
