Good piece by Professor Steve Peers on exclusion from refugee status in EU law: What if a refugee allegedly supports terrorism? The CJEU judgment in T. Click the link to read the full post. This gives you an idea of what issues arose: This case concerned a Turkish national who...
What feels like months ago now I was kindly provided with a review copy of Detention Under the Immigration Acts: Law and Practice by Graham Denholm and Rory Dunlop with Lisa Giovannetti QC as Consultant Editor. It has taken me this long to do the actual review because I have...
Really interesting, thought provoking piece by Melanie Griffiths on gender and immigration: Gendering the Irregular. To give you a flavour: The immigration system―from the policy level to its everyday operationalisation―is a gendered one. Through the example given, we can see how it goes into the heart of people’s private lives...
The Court of Appeal has effectively suspended the Detained Fast Track asylum processing factory. The High Court recently found the appeal process unlawful but granted the Home Office a stay on the effect of the judgment. The Court of Appeal has overturned that stay, meaning that the High Court judgment...
Job Title: Immigration Solicitor / Caseworker Salary: circa £30,000 depending on experience Closing date: 9am on 16 July 2015 Interviews: week commencing 20 July 2015 Website: www.atleu.org.uk Location: N7 7LL Contact: jamila@atleu.org.uk ATLEU seeks a solicitor or barrister to join its expanding Immigration and Public Law Team. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of two...
The new Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, has announced his programme of inspections for 2015-16: An inspection of the effectiveness of the administrative review systemintroduced in 2014 to replace in-country rights of appeal. An inspection of Border Force operations at Manchester Airport. An inspection focussing on how intelligence is assessed, acted...
The Supreme Court yesterday handed down judgment in TN, MA and AA (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 40, in which the Court held that a breach of the family tracing duty in Regulation 6 of the Asylum Seekers (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2005 does not affect...
The Court of Appeal has overturned the fruity findings of Anthony Thornton QC in the case of R (on the application of Patel) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 645. The case was widely reported at the time, including on this blog (Family visitor receives...
There have been some significant recent developments in the Dublin system, which is the means by which people who enter the United Kingdom and claim asylum are returned to the first EU country they have passed through. A child of five with a map could tell you that the system...
From HJT Training: Essential principles of advocacy and tribunal procedure This is a practical and fun course designed to build confidence and competence in those new to public speaking and advocacy in the Immigration Tribunal. Participants will learn essential principles of advocacy and Tribunal procedure and have the opportunity to practice making...
The House of Commons Library has issued an interesting briefing on the UK approach to Syrian refugees. Hat tip to ILPA for spotting it. The UK has taken in 4,000 Syrian refugees who managed to reach our shores to make a personal direct claim for asylum despite our best efforts to...
New (to me at any rate) is the Presidential Guidance Note No 1 of 2015: Wasted Costs and Unreasonable Costs, signed on 18 May 2015. It goes a bit further than Cancino in emphasising the high threshold for wasted costs. Arguably too far: Even where a hearing has to be adjourned because...
This post is a largely academic one for the lawyers and judges amongst Free Movement readers. The latest case in the interminable parade of cases addressing the interaction of Article 8 and the Immigration Rules is the case of R (on the application of Sunassee) v Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber)...
The Upper Tribunal has given judgment in a test case on ETS appeals and judicial reviews: R (on the application of Gazi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (ETS – judicial review) IJR [2015] UKUT 327 (IAC). It is essential reading for anyone directly affected by the ongoing...
Interesting article by Jan Brulc over on the MRN website: UK sees a sharp drop in its international standing on migrant integration. The UK is now the lowest ranked of the 38 surveyed countries for family friendly immigration policy according to MIPEX, the Migrant Integration Policy Index. Countries include European countries plus...
Following on from Court of Appeal level criticism of the arcane complexity of the Points Based System, the Home Office now has an online archive of the different versions of the Immigration Rules. Archived versions of policies would be useful too… Hat tip @squeakinglyjen.
...The key reason why women are refused asylum in Europe is because they are not believed. So let’s imagine a woman comes to the UK to seek protection from human rights abuses. Let’s call her Malaika. Chances are that Malaika will have experienced some form of sexual violence before she...
Update: see report of Supreme Court judgment here. Official confirmation (bottom of page 2) from the Supreme Court that permission to appeal has been granted. There is no date listed yet but you will be able to track progress on the Supreme Court website in the current cases section.
...The detained fast track appeals system was last Friday held to be unlawful in the High Court. The is available here: Detention Action v First-Tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) & Ors [2015] EWHC 1689 (Admin). The Home Office will appeal the judgment, which is in the meantime stayed. This means that fast...
The High Court has overturned the refusal on character grounds by the Home Office of a British citizenship application by a migrant child. Karon Monaghan QC sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court held that the Secretary of State had acted unlawfully in fettering her discretion by applying...
The Bar Council, Law Society and CILEX have published joint guidance for lawyers and clients and litigants in person on legal proceedings where one of the parties is a litigant in person. Solicitors should ensure they do not attempt to claim that which cannot properly be claimed. Which includes costs.
...Professor Hathaway’s original Law of Refugee Status has near mythical status in the lexicon of asylum lawyers. Published as it was in 1991, it was one of the first texts in the field, emanating from a time when English refugee law comprised largely basic propositions about the standard of proof,...
From the main Garden Court Chambers website regarding the case of Granovski & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1478 (Admin): The High Court today handed down judgment on a judicial review challenging the Secretary of State’s rigid approach to calculating ‘continuous residence’ for settlement purposes....
CHAYN have produced a guide for non-lawyers on How to build your own domestic violence case without a lawyer. The guide goes step by step through the types of evidence and how to construct the case. It is also useful for lawyers trying to demonstrate the domestic violence suffered by their...
In an interesting short Upper Tribunal judicial review determination, Upper Tribunal Judge Coker finds on the facts of the particular case that a judge in earlier, separate proceedings had erred in failing to ensure that the reasons for refusal of asylum were properly put to an unrepresented litigant in person....
The Upper Tribunal gives country guidance on returns to DRC in the new case of BM and Others (returnees – criminal and non-criminal) DRC CG [2015] UKUT 293 (IAC): 1. A national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) who has acquired the status of foreign national offender in the...
New Home Office policy on comprehensive sickness insurance for family members of EEA students following on from amendments to the regulations in April 2015. It includes advance warning, basically: Whilst changes to the Regulations were made on 6th April, for operational reasons, the requirement for family members of students to hold...
In the case of Adjei (visit visas – Article 8) [2015] UKUT 261 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal dismisses an appeal against refusal of a family visit visa. This is despite the First-tier Tribunal finding that the application in question in truth met the requirements of the Immigration Rules and that the visit...
Tribunal Judges Charles Adolphus Vaudin d’Imecourt and Gordon Denson are retiring from the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber. The renowned Judge Vaudin d’Imecourt was, notably, Chief Justice for Vanuatu from 1991 to 1998 until reportedly being deposed in a coup.
...The Law Society Gazette reports that Benny Thomas of Consilium Solicitors, an immigration lawyer who lied to court, has been struck off following a Hamid hearing and referral to the SRA. The original judgment is unavailable on BAILII but was reported at the time on Free Movement. Referral to the...
With the Children Act 1988, the language of “access” and “custody” was abandoned in family law, and with good reason. The language was suggestive of incarceration, it encouraged confrontation between parents and it was based on the idea of children as inanimate parcels or packages. In immigration law, though, that...
I just came across a new (to me, at any rate) Home Office policy document entitled European Economic Area (EEA) case law and appeals which sets out the Home Office interpretation of various key EU law cases including Steymann, Levin, Antonissen, Surinder Singh, Eind, O and S v Netherlands, McCarthy, Reyes and others....
Discretion in relation to costs is a wide one and awarding costs on an indemnity basis against an unsuccessful party is a departure from the norm. The substantive matter in the case of R (on the application of Kaienga) v Secretary of State for the Home Department IJR [2015] UKUT 272...
Upper Tribunal determination on “print and send” Tier 4 student applications: R (on the application of Wasif) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (rule 34 – “print and send”) IRJ [2015] UKUT 270 (IAC). “Print and send” applications were withdrawn in August 2014 so the case is of limited interest.
...The Upper Tribunal has found that returns of asylum seekers to Malta under the Dublin Regulation are lawful. The case is R (on the application of Hagos) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Dublin returns – Malta) IJR [2015] UKUT 271 (IAC) 1) While the Maltese system for...
The Administrative Court last week (22.5.15) handed down judgment in the case of R (on the application of AB) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1490 (Admin), quashing a decision not to recognize AB as a victim of human trafficking for the purposes of the Council...
It is very widely believed that the Human Rights Act stops the UK from deporting foreign criminals whence they came. To a limited extent, there is some truth in this. Some appeals against deportation decisions do succeed on human rights grounds. Not many, though, and none succeed because of the...
