I’m away next week (back for a hearing on Friday) and have scheduled a few blog posts to keep you reading in my absence. Watch this space for posts on the introduction of the Immigration Act 2014 appeals regime, the new rules for visitors, a new tribunal case on statutory...
Section 65, the one good bit of the Immigration Act 2014, is due to commence on 6 April 2015: see paragraph 4 of the Immigration Act 2014 (Commencement No. 4, Transitional and Saving Provisions and Amendment) Order 2015 (SI 2015/317). This provision more or less brings to an end the...
In a recent determination, the President of the Upper Tribunal suggested that documents and submissions could be sent electronically to the tribunal in order to facilitate efficient justice: …parties and their representatives are strongly encouraged to communicate electronically with the Tribunal and, further, to seek confirmation that important communications and/or...
In January 2014, the Government introduced a number of measures aimed at restricting EEA migrants’ access to income-based JSA. A key change was the introduction of a statutory presumption that entitlement to income-based JSA (‘JSA(IB)’) would be limited to a period of three months (or six months for EEA nationals...
New country guidance case from the Upper Tribunal on the risk of persecution in Sri Lanka for the LGBT community: LH and IP (gay men: risk) Sri Lanka CG [2015] UKUT 00073 (IAC). Official headnote: (1) Having regard to the provisions of articles 365 and 365A of the Sri Lankan Penal Code,...
Where an application for leave to remain is made before 9 July 2012 but decided after that date, which Immigration Rules should apply to it? The answer, according to Court of Appeal in Singh v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 74, is the ‘old’ Rules,...
Job Title: Immigration Solicitor / Caseworker Salary: £25,000 to £30,000 depending on experience Closing date: 9am on 12 March 2015 Interviews: week commencing 16 March 2015 Website: www.atleu.org.uk Location: N7 7LL Contact: Jamila@atleu.org.uk ATLEU seeks a solicitor or barrister with experience of immigration and asylum law to advise and represent...
Fascinating write up by The Register of the transition to GOV.UK, focussing on the immigration websites. The title gives a fair idea of the content: Inside GOV.UK: ‘CHAOS’ and ‘NIGHTMARE’ as trendy Cabinet Office wrecked govt websites: The most hated website of all time? A total disaster, basically. My own...
From today a ‘leaky paywall’ has been installed on Free Movement. Guest users can view 20 blog posts per month, after which they will find they are unable to access blog content. Inspired by the Points Based System, there are now two tiers of membership: Tier 1 allows full access...
The UK is now blatantly obstructing EU free movement rights. As of 30 January 2015, a new Form EEA(FM) has been introduced for family members of EU nationals and of British citizens exercising Surinder Singh free movement rights. It is 129 pages long. The old version, called the EEA2, was...
Having just heard of a particularly shocking centre of life refusal of a Surinder Singh case, I thought I would start collating such refusals. I will try and work out a way to submit them to the European Commission, who are investigating the UK on this issue, and will use...
Interesting from Garden Court North: A recent decision of the Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal (30.1.15) now means that the Workers Registration Scheme will have to be treated as having no legal effect in respect of its final two years’ of operation, potentially affecting the past and future social security,...
This piece started life as a practice note for welfare benefits cases but the same principles are transferrable to the immigration jurisdiction so we thought it would be helpful to share it here on Free Movement as well. If permission to appeal against a decision of a First-tier Tribunal in...
The Presidents of the Immigration and Asylum Chambers sat together in the First-tier Tribunal case of Cancino (costs – First-tier Tribunal – new powers) [2015] UKFTT 00059 (IAC) in order to give guidance on when legal costs might become payable in immigration cases. The power to make awards of legal...
It’s pleasing to see that the residents of Derby Road in Southampton have taken a strong stand against the making of ‘Immigration Street’, Channel 4 and Love Productions sequel to ‘Benefits Street’ (a not so much fly on the wall as stir up the hornets style of documentary about the...
Welcome to the January 2015 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month marks a whole year of podcasts, and they have been quite a success so far, with nearly 22,000 unique downloads in total. More subjectively, several people have mentioned them to when I’ve been out and...
Major changes are coming soon to the visit visa system. The Home Office has been consulting with selected partners for what seems like ages and it looks like implementation is set for April 2015. The ridiculous number of separate visit visa forms and categories is to be seriously simplified –...
The next Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration will be David Bolt, former MI5 officer and later police officer. Announcement here. Turns out new inspector of immigration, is a former MI5 officer and was director general of intelligence at Serious Organised Crime Agency — Alan Travis (@alantravis40) February 10,...
Court of Appeal rules that the Zambrano status arises immediately and there is no need to show destitution. However, Zambrano carers have no entitlement to mainstream social assistance following the amendment to the habitual residence test in November 2012. In Sanneh & Ors v Secretary of State for Work and...
The case of R (On the Application Of Geller & Anor) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 45 was an application to the Court of Appeal against a refusal by the Upper Tribunal to grant permission for judicial review by Pamela Geller and Robert...
Bossadi (paragraph 276ADE; suitability; ties) [2015] UKUT 00042 (IAC) is very short but somewhat less than sweet. A panel of the tribunal tries to row back from the earlier case of Ogundimu (Article 8 – new rules) Nigeria [2013] UKUT 60 (IAC) and suggest that the now scrapped (and so...
We are looking for a number of bright law graduates to join a pool of legal assistants working with barristers in the immigration team at Garden Court Chambers. Assistants will be required to conduct independent work assisting barristers with direct access cases, as well as other legal research and administrative...
JCWI has set up an excellent crowd funding campaign to run posters across the UK showcasing migrants and their invaluable contribution to British life. I’ve backed it and I urge all readers of Free Movement to do likewise. There are only 18 days to run so you need to hurry....
Welcome to the slightly belated December 2014 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. As you might expect, the material for the podcast is drawn from blog posts on Free Movement for the month of December 2014. I start by going through some casework and case law updates and...
Unfortunately the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the Article 3 health test cases in GS (India) & Ors v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 40 (30 January 2015) does not change very much for migrants with serious health conditions seeking to remain in the...
Just a quick one to highlight an example of a judicial review claim where a belated fresh decision was made by the Respondent in judicial review proceedings and the judge took the firm view that costs should be awarded for the proceedings so far. If the applicant wanted to challenge...
In Begum (false documents and false statements) [2015] UKUT 00041 (IAC) we are educated by the tribunal as to the difference between a “visit” and an “inspection” and the blameless appellant is refused entry and perhaps banned from further entry for 10 years. Some might think the case just a...
An application one day late by immigration lawyers proves fatal to success in the unfortunate case of R (on the application of Han) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 4606 (Admin) (04 November 2014). The lawyers, Overseas Student Service Centre Limited (the “OSSC”), had everything they...
Last year the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down judgment in the case of McCarthy v United Kingdom C-202/13. In some ways it is a very straightforward case: the UK is not permitted to require residence card holding family members of EEA nationals to apply for yet...
Where something goes badly wrong at a hearing it is sometimes necessary for the advocate who was present to explain events as part of the appeal process. It has become customary in immigration proceedings for the advocate to have to write a witness statement and therefore, because he or she...
As the darkness outside gathered, the candles inside the church seemed to burn more brightly. Hundreds had gathered at St Martins-in-the-Fields in London yesterday to commemorate Helen Bamber OBE and her work. The event was moving and inspiring but was in equal measure disturbing and challenging.
...President Mr Justice McCloskey has criticised the Home Office for submitting “wing and a prayer” grounds of appeal to the Upper Tribunal and the judge who granted permission to appeal. The case is MR (permission to appeal: Tribunal’s approach) Brazil [2015] UKUT 00029 (IAC) and the language is forthright: To...
