All Articles: EU Free Movement

The Upper Tribunal has held that the non-EU partner of an EU citizen cannot start accruing time towards permanent residence status until they have a residence card, pointing out the well established distinction between family members and extended family members in EU free movement law. In short: a person married...

26th February 2019
BY Iain Halliday

The EU Settlement Scheme scheme has been set up by the UK government for European residents to apply for “settled status” after Brexit. It is considered necessary because most citizens of European Union countries will lose their existing legal status in this country after it leaves the EU. EU citizens who...

18th February 2019
BY Colin Yeo

The government has published two draft sets of changes to UK immigration law to cater for the UK’s exit from the European Union. They include ending the “Dublin III” system under which asylum seekers are sent back to Calais and elsewhere in mainland Europe, which would be scrapped as early...

13th February 2019
BY CJ McKinney

In this research piece, the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association makes the case that the Home Office is subject to certain legal duties relating to the EU settled status automated data checks. These legal duties are: the public law duty to give reasons for the outcome of the checks where requested;...

1st February 2019
BY ILPA

The UK government has confirmed what was suspected (and what the Home Office has hinted at in private talks): in the event of a no-deal Brexit, free movement will end on 29 March 2019. EU citizens arriving after this date face a new temporary system. The Immigration and Social Security...

29th January 2019
BY Chris Desira

The government’s preparations for Brexit include passing a law to remove the right of free movement for EU citizens. This right is ultimately derived from the EU treaties, but is also expressed in UK legislation, notably section 7 of the Immigration Act 1988, and in the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016...

29th January 2019
BY Colin Yeo

The Home Office report on the second phase of its EU Settlement Scheme pilot revealed this week that nearly one in five applicants did not receive sufficient evidence of UK residence from automated checks alone. Of the 27,000 decisions issued during Phase 2 of the scheme some 4,500 applicants for...

25th January 2019
BY Phil Booth

The Secretary of State has confirmed that he intends to introduce appeal rights for extended family members of EEA nationals who have been refused a residence card. The government will lay legislation amending the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 “as soon as reasonably practicable”. This important statement arises out...

14th January 2019
BY Grace Brown

There is one, overwhelming, message from the immigration White Paper published on 19 December. It is mentioned in the Foreword by the Prime Minister, and the Foreword from the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The aims of the White Paper are: to bring an end to free movement...

21st December 2018
BY ILPA

Michal Netyks was convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a short period of imprisonment. On the day of his release, at which point he had packed his belongings, he was served with Home Office papers telling him he was to be deported and that he would be detained...

20th December 2018
BY Colin Yeo

The Upper Tribunal has held in the case of LS (Article 45 TFEU – derivative rights) [2018] UKUT 426 (IAC) that the family member of a cross border worker within the EU — one who lives in one EU country but works regularly in another — can derive a right...

18th December 2018
BY Colin Yeo

If you are an EEA/EU citizen or their family member and wish to qualify for an EU law right of residence, then eventually a right of permanent residence, you have to meet certain requirements. For some people — chiefly those not working or self-employed — one of those requirements is...

13th December 2018
BY colinyeo

In Oksuzoglu (EEA appeal – “new matter”) [2018] UKUT 00385 (IAC), the appellant was a Ukrainian national and the sponsor was a British national. They had spent some seven months in Cyprus and on their return to the UK, the appellant applied for a residence card invoking the Surinder Singh...

29th November 2018
BY Bilaal Shabbir

1.1. The Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA) drafted the following report as a joint commentary by experienced immigration practitioners on the EU Settlement Scheme. We hope this expertise assists in the development of the scheme and to achieve its intended purpose of safeguarding the rights of EU citizens living in...

15th November 2018
BY ILPA

The High Court’s recent decision in R (Shafikul Islam) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 2939 (Admin) is yet another case on the vexed issue of whether appeals against refusals of EEA residence cards are suspensive of removal (spoiler: no). I previously expressed grave reservations that...

8th November 2018
BY Bilaal Shabbir

Having been an immigration solicitor for around 20 years, I’m used to pretty chaotic weeks. The past week has been one of the most frustrating following the immigration minister’s surprisingly unpolished performance in front of the Home Affairs Committee which CJ covered in an earlier post. To some extent, it’s...

3rd November 2018
BY Nichola Carter

Mass confusion following the immigration minister’s evidence (full transcript here) to the Home Affairs committee yesterday: this was a terrible appearance by Caroline Nokes @CommonsHomeAffs yesterday. Sajid Javid needs to go back as a matter of urgency; give clear answers and put out the govt’s No Deal advice on citizens...

31st October 2018
BY CJ McKinney

The Court of Appeal in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Christy [2018] EWCA Civ 2378 has comprehensively rejected an argument by the Home Office seeking to limit the obligation to consider “Surinder Singh” applications by extended family members. Ben Collins QC appeared pro bono for Ms Christy....

30th October 2018
BY Darren Stevenson

Figures obtained by Free Movement show that fewer than two thousand non-EU carers rely on EU law for their right to live in the UK. The relatively small number of people relying on these “derived rights of residence” raises questions about why the government appears set to deny them settlement...

29th October 2018
BY Colin Yeo

A new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules was laid on 10 October 2018. There is some very welcome news, including more flexibility given to caseworkers on whether and when they can write to applicants to ask for missing documents. (Whether they will in practice or still refuse for...

12th October 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

After months of uncertainty we finally have a picture emerging of what the post-Brexit immigration system will look like. We have known for some time that after we leave the EU on 29 March 2019, the plan is to enter a transition period until 31 December 2020 which will see...

3rd October 2018
BY Joanna Hunt

Last week the Scottish Court of Session agreed to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg to determine whether the UK’s notice that it is leaving the EU under Article 50 can be cancelled. The case, formally known as Wightman & Others v...

26th September 2018
BY Iain Halliday

In C-369/17 Ahmed, the Court of Justice of the European Union has held that member states must take account of all the circumstances of the crime committed by an individual before deciding that it is a “serious crime” which justifies excluding that person from subsidiary protection. What is subsidiary protection...

19th September 2018
BY Alex Schymyck

Today’s Migration Advisory Committee recommendations are incredibly significant from a UK employer’s perspective. I can immediately see that a huge number of UK employers are likely to be faced with potentially significant new administrative burdens if the recommendations are implemented. The vast majority of UK employers have little or nothing...

18th September 2018
BY Nichola Carter

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has published its long-awaited research into migration from the EU and how it should be managed after Brexit. The report will disappoint advocates of a fairly liberal regime, recommending as it does that if there is no specific agreement with the EU on migration, there...

18th September 2018
BY CJ McKinney

Last week the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the UK’s approach to the Worker Registration Scheme in force between 2004 and 2011 for citizens of new EU countries. The case is C-618/16 Prefeta v UK. The judgment in effect endorses the Home Office view that time spent...

17th September 2018
BY Colin Yeo

It is one thing when the state seeks to withdraw a permission or privilege. It is a very different matter when it seeks to interfere with an individual’s rights. Privileges are precarious. In the absence of good reason to the contrary, rights should be secure. This emphatic opening line comes...

14th September 2018
BY Bilaal Shabbir

If negotiations on an orderly withdrawal from the European Union break down completely, the UK risks a “chaotic Brexit” on 29 March 2019, with no overall withdrawal agreement in place nor any smaller deals to mitigate the shock of a no deal outcome. Both the UK and EU27 could take...

7th September 2018
BY The UK in a Changing Europe

The “Surinder Singh route” has become well known to British citizens seeking to be reunited with their family members. The toughening up of UK immigration rules in July 2012 – particularly the introduction of the minimum income rule with its labyrinthine documentary requirements, and the awful elderly dependent relative rules...

31st August 2018
BY Colin Yeo

With the Article 50 deadline fast approaching, there has been growing concern that the UK will leave the European Union with “no deal”. If no withdrawal agreement making provision for a transition period is reached by 29 March 2019, the UK will fall out of the EU without an agreement...

30th August 2018
BY Iain Halliday

The Upper Tribunal has ruled that the term “worker” in the regulations concerning the rights of residence retained by non-EEA nationals if they divorce their EEA spouse includes jobseekers. This means that when someone who has given up work during marriage gets divorced from an EU citizen they will still...

23rd August 2018
BY Alex Schymyck

Kovacevic (British citizen – Art 21 TFEU) Croatia [2018] UKUT 273 (IAC) is about whether EU free movement law protects dual nationals (i.e. someone who is a citizen of the UK and another EU country) who have never exercised their EU free movement rights. The Upper Tribunal ruled that a...

21st August 2018
BY Alex Schymyck

The Home Office has confirmed that Irish citizens living in the UK are considered “settled” for the purposes of immigration law. The department said that officials in individual cases who had denied that Irish citizens were settled as soon as they took up residence in the UK were wrong to...

8th August 2018
BY CJ McKinney

Macastena v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 1558 highlights the difference between extended family members’ rights and family members’ rights under EU law, as well as the extent of the tribunal’s statutory remit. Background to the case The appellant is a Kosovan national who came...

24th July 2018
BY Sairah Javed

Afzal v East London Pizza Ltd (t/a Dominos Pizza) (Rev 1) [2018] UKEAT 0265_17_1304 is a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. It touches on the vexed issue of an employee continuing to work while awaiting a decision from the Home Office on an immigration application. From an immigration law...

13th July 2018
BY John Vassiliou

Two years after the referendum vote to leave the European Union, the government has published a White Paper describing what it wants from the future relationship between the UK and EU. The 100-page document includes some references to the future of immigration from the EU, but only in certain, limited...

12th July 2018
BY CJ McKinney

The unmarried partner of a British citizen who returns to the UK having resided in another EU country does have rights under EU law, the Court of Justice of the European Union has today held in the case of C‑89/17 Banger v UK. The court also finds that if such...

12th July 2018
BY Colin Yeo

The latest, and presumably last, amendments to the EEA Regulations were laid before Parliament on 3 July 2018. The Immigration (European Economic Area) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018 No. 801) will come into force on 24 July 2018. Implementing a number of cases decided by the Court of Justice of...

11th July 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

The right of free movement for EU migrants could be replaced with something more like the arrangements making travel easier for Canadian business people, the Home Secretary has said. Sajid Javid told the Home Affairs committee of MPs today that free movement will end after Brexit, “full stop”, and repeatedly...

10th July 2018
BY CJ McKinney

In the case of R (Wandzel) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Rev 1) [2018] EWHC 1371 (Admin), Nigel Poole QC, sitting as a deputy High Court judge, had to deal with the effect of the famous case of Kiarie and Byndloss (discussed on Free Movement here) for...

15th June 2018
BY Nath Gbikpi

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