A Freedom of Information request has revealed that 415 children aged 10-18 have been refused British citizenship on character grounds. The power to refuse citizenship on character grounds was controversially extended from adults to children as young as 10 in 2010. The refusals include 25 of children aged 10-13, 95...
Just a short one this, but perhaps important. In R (on the application of Javed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 4426 (Admin) Neil Garnham QC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge holds that where a notice of curtailment was sent by recorded delivery to...
The Irish High Court has awarded a claimant over €100,000 in damages against the Irish government for breach of EU law free movement rights. The case is an example of the award of damages awarded for losses caused by a Member State breaching EU law under the Francovich (C-6/90 and...
Last night I was invited to the launch for a new practitioner text edited by Eric Fripp, The Law and Practice of Expulsion and Exclusion from the United Kingdom: Deportation, Removal, Exclusion and Deprivation of Citizenship. There were a number of excellent speakers lined up and so I thought I’d take...
In the news today we can see that an Entry Clearance Officer has rejected an application for a visit visa for two grandparents who wish to travel to the UK to attend the funeral of their 5 year old grandchild, tragically killed in a car accident before Christmas. The family...
In a curious turn of events, the Home Office wrote to the Tribunal Procedure Committee late last year to ‘fess up to having mislead the committee about Home Office policy on withdrawal of decisions. This is an issue we’ve covered before on Free Movement because under the old procedure rules...
My ebook on costs in immigration cases is now available for purchase. It covers costs in statutory appeals and in judicial review cases, case law on unreasonable conduct, the law on wasted costs, costs for litigants in person, the circumstances where costs might be awarded in an immigration context, a...
The Free Movement January sale ends this Friday, 16 January 2015. New content has just been added for members, so sign up now to get access to over 30 CPD hours of invaluable training materials. Use code JANSALE to get 25% off individual membership and 50% off ebooks. The new...
MM (Darfuris) Sudan (CG) [2015] UKUT 10 (IAC) is a commendably concise and to the point new Country Guidance case on Sudan and Darfuris: In the country guidance case of AA (Non-Arab Darfuris-relocation) Sudan CG [2009] UKAIT 00056, where it is stated that if a claimant from Sudan is a...
The Home Office has quietly tightened up the criteria for granting British citizenship under the good character test. This had passed me by so I thought it useful to flag up – and many thanks to Alex Moran for point it out. A number of undesirable behaviours have been added...
The previously reported case of R (on the application of Bilal Mahmood) v Secretary of State for the home Department (candour/reassessment duties; ETS :alternative remedy) IJR [2014] UKUT 439 (IAC) has been re-titled and I think the headnote has been supplemented as well. The case is important on the ongoing...
I’m running a January sale on individual membership (there’s now 30 CPD hours to choose from) and ebooks. Use coupon code JANSALE when making a purchase to apply a 25% discount on individual membership (£180 including VAT, reverts to full price after one year) and a 50% discount on ebooks....
Personally I managed to get away with only cooking one Christmas dinner this year, which alongside a proper break (other than writing this post) has reduced festive stress levels and helped provide a good end to the year. I’ve settled into Garden Court Chambers in 2014 and have much enjoyed...
In an arguably less than ideal piece of timing the Upper Tribunal has finally, just two days before Christmas, issued the long awaited Country Guidance decision on asylum claims by Pakistani Christians. The case is AK and SK (Christians: risk) Pakistan CG [2014] UKUT 00569 (IAC) and the hearing actually...
In an important and wide-ranging judgment the Court of Appeal in R (on the application of Gudanaviciene & Ors) v The Director of Legal Aid Casework & Ors [2014] EWCA Civ 1622 has upheld Collins J’s finding that the Exceptional Case Funding (‘ECF’) scheme has been operated unlawfully, while allowing...
Dear Jesus, You have applied for asylum in the United Kingdom and asked to be recognised as a refugee under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Geneva Convention) on the basis that it would be contrary to the United Kingdom’s obligations under the Geneva Convention for you...
I’ve now come across two cases in which judges of the First-tier Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber have imposed unwanted anonymity orders on parties without any application or notice. One case is reported here and the other can’t be reported because of, well, the anonymity order. In both cases there...
On 25 November 2014, Minister for Immigration and Security, James Brokenshire, said: The new Immigration Act enables us to take tougher action to crack down on those who try to cheat our immigration system by abusing marriage laws. In 2013-14, we intervened in more than 1,300 sham marriages – more...
Remarkably honest response to Freedom Information Request for Home Office training materials on the immigration law changes taking effect on 28 July 2014: The withheld training documents contain lines to take, which could assist a foreign criminal’s representatives in forming their arguments for appeal. If their appeals were successful, then...
Some information about the shadowy Upper Tribunal Reporting Committee shared with me by the indefatigable Shoaib Khan, obtained through a Freedom of Information request: The current members of the reporting committee are: Mr Justice McCloskey (President), Mr C M G Ockelton (Vice President), Upper Tribunal Judge Peter Lane (Chair), Upper...
Welcome to the November 2014 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. The material for the podcast is drawn from blog posts on Free Movement for the month of November. I start this month by going through some Home Office news and other updates, I move on to the...
The Government is closing its ears to the legal community’s demands for access to justice for all. The question is can they do the same when the call for change comes directly from young people? Published on the eve of International Human Rights Day, and just two weeks after the...
The case of Sultana and Others (rules: waiver/further enquiry; discretion) [2014] UKUT 540 (IAC) (12 November 2014) involved refusals of entry clearance for a spouse and three children. The basis of refusal was that the sponsor was self employed, claimed to earn in excess of the minimum amount required —...
On 20 November 2014, the National Audit Office – the independent Parliamentary body responsible for scrutinising the way in which the government spends public money – published a report on the implementation of the post-2010 civil legal aid reforms. Its central conclusion is an unsurprising one: while spending on civil...
In welcome news for LGBT asylum claimants, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled this week that ‘tests’ to prove a claimant’s sexual orientation, or intimate questioning about sexual behaviour, may breach the rights to human dignity and respect for private life contained in Articles 1 and 7...
I am pleased to be able to report that there are now over 270 signed up Free Movement Members with access to the training and reference materials, including a mix of some administrators and blog contributors, group members and individual members. 424 courses have been completed and 600 CPD hours...
Many practitioners are concerned about the increasing use of draconian powers to deprive people of their citizenship and the related ‘evil of statelessness’ (which is the subject of the UNCHR’s latest campaign.) Last week, a 7-member Supreme Court panel heard the latest round of arguments on these issues in the...
New Social Security Advisory Committee Report voices concerns On 20 November 2014, the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) published its Report on the regulations which remove entitlement to Housing Benefit for certain categories of European Economic Area (EEA) jobseekers. The Committee expresses a number of concerns about the impact of...
It has been announced today by Minister for Security and Immigration James Broken-shire that Part 4 of the Immigration Act 2014 is to be brought into full effect on 2 March 2015. This amends the procedure for marriage and civil partnership for everyone (not just foreign nationals) and creates new...
The guidance is directed to the Home Office’s own staff — a pertinent issue following these recent reported cases: Immigration officials caught lying on oath — but it is sound guidance for any witness attending court. I particularly liked this bit: Some may even accuse you of lying. This can...
Free, excellent and detailed analysis, highly recommended reading. The change to the definition of overstaying and the new invalid application provisions are particularly important in general casework, the administrative review process is explained and there is detailed analysis of changes to a significant number of immigration categories, including visitors, business...
Welcome to the October 2014 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. As normal, the material for the podcast is drawn from blog posts on Free Movement for the month of October. I start this month by going through some asylum updates, move on to some other important cases...
