In R (on the application of Bah) v Secretary of State for the Home Department IJR [2015] UKUT 518 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal finds that even though the applicant had received a letter stating that the Home Office “aimed” to resolve cases by July 2011, this did not amount to...
Part 3 of the Immigration Bill gives a host of new, wide powers to immigration officers. A person with leave to enter arrives in at the airport. Schedule 19(1) and (2) – the first section of Part 3 – gives immigration officers the power to curtail leave, rather to simply...
Back in the day, One Direction enjoyed considerable success and dominated the reported charts. Without a picture in the attic, though, good fortune and good looks cannot last forever. Decline is inevitable. It can be embraced with dignity but this eludes some performers, who simply go on playing the same...
This week, Lord Justices Elias, Richards and McCombe sat in the Court of Appeal and heard the first test cases against Section 94B of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Section 94B, introduced by the Immigration Act 2014 and which came into force on 28th July 2014, provides the Home...
In the latest instalment of the ongoing online training course delivered by President McCloskey via BAILII on the nature, scope and practice of appeal and judicial review proceedings in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, ONM (Remittal to FtT with directions) Jamaica [2015] UKUT 517 (IAC), we learn the following: (i)...
In MC (Essa principles recast) Portugal [2015] UKUT 520 (IAC), Dr Storey, with the assistance of new Upper Tribunal Judge Canavan, turns his attention to the pressing issue of reinterpreting the principles in the cases of Essa, of which there are three, as already reinterpreted by the Court of Appeal in...
The Upper Tribunal has issued the much awaited case addressing whether human rights grounds can be argued in an EU rights of residence appeal. The determination is Amirteymour and others (EEA appeals; human rights) [2015] UKUT 466 (IAC) and the official headnote reads: Where no notice under section 120 of...
The AIRE Centre has put out a call for evidence on Operation Nexus from lawyers, individuals or organisations working with EEA nationals who have been affected: The AIRE Centre has launched a project which seeks to clarify the lawfulness of Operation Nexus. We are especially interested in how Operation Nexus impacts...
The Immigration Bill 2015 was published on 17 September 2015. For now, this post provides links to further reading and resources on the Bill and also some commentary on the appeals sections, which are of the most direct interest to immigration lawyers like myself. I may update and perhaps republish the...
Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules HC 437 has been published. Most of the changes are fairly minor or technical but not all. From the explanatory notes: The purpose of these changes is to: implement section 53(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”) which provides that the...
“The fathers who only see their children on a computer screen: It’s a heartbreaking sign of our times…” From the Daily Mail. The article goes on “A landmark legal ruling in 2011 has led to a rapid rise in ‘Skype dads’ … With children living half way around the world relationships...
Last week the Children’s Commissioner for England released a study into the impact of the Coalition Government’s new family immigration rules, introduced in 2012. The report is an emotionally difficult read with some heart breaking quotes but unfortunately I’m not sure that those who should read it will read it; it is...
The first week of September 2015. On the most northerly coast of Lesvos, one of the most easterly outposts of Greece’s many islands and a far flung outpost of the European Union, nestles the beautiful fishing port of Skala Sykaminias reached by a melting tarmac road at the end of...
Back in 2001 the EU adopted Council Directive 2001/55/EC, usually referred to as the Temporary Protection Directive. Its full title reveals its purpose: on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States...
UPDATE: Permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal seems to have been granted: Sales LJ grants permission to appeal from UT's recent decision in Bilal Ahmed) (EEA/s 10 appeal rights: effect) IJR: http://t.co/fbQLhZpxZq — Zane Malik QC (@ZaneMalikQC) October 9, 2015 On 24 July 2015 the Upper Tribunal handed...
Interesting legal opinion by my colleague Adrian Berry for the Association of Charitable Foundations on the ‘right to rent’ landlord civil penalties introduced by the Immigration Act 2014. Adrian does some myth busting on the meaning of “no recourse to public funds” and goes on to argue that the landlord civil...
In HA (Article 24 QD) Palestinian Territories [2015] UKUT 465 (IAC) the President of the Upper Tribunal decides, according to the somewhat cryptic headnote: (i) Article 24 of the Qualification Directive does not confer a substantive right of residence in the Member State concerned. Rather, its function is to determine the modalities whereby...
New policy ACRO referrals to criminal casework has been added to the Immigration Directorate Instructions at Chapter 36. This covers cases where a foreign national is arrested in the UK. An overseas criminal records check is to be carried out automatically. If any offences are revealed and any offence is sufficiently serious,...
In another Hamid judgment the Upper Tribunal has referred for investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority the conduct of another solicitors’ firm, this time Sandbrook Solicitors. The case is Re Sandbrook Solicitors [2015] EWHC 2473 (Admin). Sitting in the Upper Tribunal, Mr Justice Green makes clear that no findings of fact were...
In last weekend’s Sunday Times, Nigel Lawson lashed out at the emotional response of leading politicians and spiritual leaders to the image of “the sight of a drowned toddler”, thereby causing us to believe it was necessary for the UK to accept more Syrian refugees. He thinks we should not...
Very interesting, worrying and yet somehow unsurprising study on inconsistencies in asylum appeal adjudication by Nick Gill, Rebecca Rotter, Andrew Burridge, Melanie Griffiths and Jennifer Allsopp in the September 2015 edition of the Forced Migration Review. For example: Judges are advised to take an ‘enabling’ role with unrepresented appellants but in...
Monday: 3:30pm. Like most asylum lawyer geeks — you know who you are — I was hanging on every word of the Prime Minister when he made his announcement on how many Syrian “refugees” would be provided resettlement in the UK. He was at pains to distinguish between refugees and...
In a judgment that may be of interest to legal aid lawyers, the High Court has overturned a rejection by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) of a legal aid claim by Duncan Lewis solicitors. The Legal Aid Agency should have considered whether the means assessment conducted by Duncan Lewis, which...
Welcome to the July 2015 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this episode I start by talk about Sir Nicholas Winton then move on to discuss the huge delays in appeal hearing listings and some other tribunal news, cover some immigration rule issues including a brief overview...
Last month’s report by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, Inspection of Border Force Operations at Heathrow Airport, reveals that the Border Force Officers at Heathrow Airport are failing to record justifications for detention and searches of passengers. If they did keep a record, they often failed to complete...
The latest in the increasingly long line of cases in which the judiciary has administered public dressings down for immigration lawyers is R (On the Application Of Akram & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1359 (Admin). The cases are often referred to as Hamid cases,...
In the rather odd recently reported case of Iqbal (Para 322 Immigration Rules) [2015] UKUT 434 (IAC) the President makes the point that some of the general grounds for refusal are mandatory (“shall be refused”) and some are discretionary (“should normally be refused” or “may be curtailed”). This is such basic...
Fundamental Rights Conference: a public law perspective Saturday 10 October 2015, 9:45 – 17:00 Venue: LSE New Academic Building 54 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ CPD: 5.5 Garden Court Chambers’ Public Law Team in association with Legal Action Group and the London School of Economics invites you to join us...
Being named as father on birth certificate will in future no longer be sufficient to prove paternity in British nationality law where the parents are unmarried. The change is introduced by the British Nationality (Proof of Paternity) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 which amend the British Nationality (Proof of Paternity) Regulations 2006. The changes only...
Welcome to the June 2015 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. In this episode I talk about where we are now on the detained fast track, cover a few tribunal cases and then finish with some important and useful higher court cases and a couple of mentions for...
Criminal investigation: sham marriage is a new Home Office policy document setting out in one place the Home Office approach to investigating sham marriage allegations, including under the new Immigration Act 2014 scheme of referrals from registrars and the increased notice period (from 28 to 72 days) that the Home Office...
A judicial review of unlawful reasons given by the Home Office will, as inevitably as night follows day, be followed by “supplementary” reasons letters in the event of a legal challenge. This is a hugely frustrating and abusive practice by the Home Office. Essentially, rubbish and peremptory reasons are given...
In BM (false passport) DRC [2015] UKUT 467 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal concludes: The mere fact that an asylum claimant utilised a false passport or kindred document in departing the DRC will not without more engage the risk category specified in [119(iv)] of BM and Others (Returnees: Criminal and Non-Criminal)...
Germany has taken the extremely welcome step of suspending the transfer of Syrian asylum seekers under the Dublin III Regulation. As long ago as November 2013 UNHCR called for countries not to return Syrian nationals to their first point of entry in the EU. As the war has worsened and...
The family visit visa system underwent an inspection by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration last month. The posts inspected were Abu Dhabi, Accra, Amman, Dhaka, Kingston, Manila, Nairobi, New Delhi, Croydon and Sheffield. The Inspector confidently declares that there is “no evidence that the removal of the full...
At a time of escalating rhetoric by Ministers, with their language of invasion, inundation and insects, a new report by Mapping Immigration Controversy confirms that the main effect of the Government campaigns on immigration are fear and anger, not reassurance. Emotions are stoked not dampened. Mapping Immigration Controversy has been running...
The case of N v SSHD will stand: the Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal (see p9) from the Court of Appeal in the linked medical treatment cases on Article 3 ECHR with the words: With regret, the Panel can foresee no reasonable prospect of this Court departing from N v...
