All Articles: EU Free Movement

The Supreme Court ruled today by a majority of 8-3 that an Act of Parliament is needed for the UK Government to trigger Article 50 and formally begin the process of leaving the EU. Giving the leading judgment the President of the Court, Lord Neuberger, emphasised that the judgment was...

24th January 2017
BY Colin Yeo

Short answer: yes, at least for now. Long answer… From 1 February 2017 it seems likely that it will be mandatory to use the official application forms for EEA residence document applications, either online or on paper, that are provided by the Home Office. This is a new requirement introduced...

23rd January 2017
BY colinyeo

EU citizens wanting to apply for proof of their right of permanent residence in the UK currently have to cut through spools of red tape. The unnecessary bureaucracy defeats some, who are wrongly being told by the Home Office that they must leave the UK after years and years of...

18th January 2017
BY Colin Yeo

Following hot on the heels of the hardline British Future report on the rights of EU nationals in the UK after Brexit, the House of Lords EU Justice Committee has today published a report on the same subject. It is a far more comprehensive and comprehending piece of work and...

14th December 2016
BY Colin Yeo

A hardline report chaired by prominent Leave campaigner Gisela Stewart into the status of EU nationals in the UK has recommended a cut off date for new arrivals from the EU, likely to be April 2017, and a massive registration programme for existing EU residents. EU citizens arriving after the...

12th December 2016
BY Colin Yeo

After a hard BREXIT: British citizens and residence in the EU By Elspeth Guild, Kingsley Napley, Steve Peers, University of Essex and Jonathan Kingham, LexisNexis, 3 November 2016 Introduction The purpose of this briefing note is to outline what a so-called hard BREXIT will mean for British citizens seeking to...

9th November 2016
BY ILPA

New Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 were laid today, coming into force mainly from 1 February 2017. The new version is mainly a consolidating exercise — the 2006 regulations has been amended and reamended over and over again — but there are also some significant changes slipped in. These...

3rd November 2016
BY colinyeo

Many thanks to everyone who recorded and sent in questions for the Brexit podcast. I have not been able to answer all the questions that were submitted but I have selected a few that I think are of general interest as a way of addressing some of the issues faced by...

22nd October 2016
BY Colin Yeo

To acquire EU rights of residence and ultimately permanent residence, a person usually has to engage in certain activities: employment, self employment, study or being self sufficient. There are other criteria as well, but these are the four key ways that a person qualifies. The activities have to be “genuine...

13th October 2016
BY Colin Yeo

UPDATE: Use of official application forms (paper or online) is mandatory from 1 February 2017. See new post: Can the Home Office force EU nationals to use the official 85 page permanent residence application form? In a useful policy document explaining internal processes within the UK Visas and Immigration department...

12th October 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The British Nationality Act 1981 requires a successful applicant for British citizenship to show, amongst other things, that he or she is free from immigration restrictions. Technically, the requirement is set out in paragraph 2(c) of Schedule 1 to the British Nationality Act 1981, which requires an applicant to show:...

10th October 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The Home Office has quietly and with no fanfare launched online residence certificate and permanent residence certificate application processes and accompanying European passport return service. I have put together a 20 minute video walk through of what the permanent residence application service looks like with some commentary which I hope...

4th October 2016
BY Colin Yeo

In two linked cases, CS v UK C-304/14 and Marin v Spain C-165/14, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Zambrano-like derived rights of residence under EU law are not automatically lost if a crime is committed. Instead, each case must be assessed on its merits...

3rd October 2016
BY Colin Yeo

Two recent cases in the Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal have clarified when a worker might in EU law retain his or her status as a worker during a period of unemployment. The cases are KS v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2016] UKUT 269 AAC...

26th September 2016
BY Colin Yeo

UPDATE: Beta version of online service now available here. A series of pages have appeared on the Governments official gov.uk website suggesting that the Home Office will be launching a new online application process for EEA nationals on 1 October 2016: The European passport return service is available for EEA...

21st September 2016
BY Colin Yeo

In the case of Sala (EFMs: Right of Appeal : Albania) [2016] UKUT 411 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal has ruled that there is no right of appeal against a decision by the Home Office to refuse a residence card to a person claiming to be an extended family member. The official headnote:...

21st September 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The Home Office is reported to be testing a new online fast track application process for EU migrants in the UK. The Financial Times first carried the story but it was also picked up and confirmed by The Guardian. In summary, the new fast track application process is said to...

5th September 2016
BY Colin Yeo

Conveniently, David Davis MP, our new Minister for Brexit, made a detailed speech and wrote a detailed article on the subject of free movement and negotiations with the EU. From these we can see quite quickly that he does not like free movement. Of people, anyway. Towards the UK, anyway....

13th July 2016
BY Colin Yeo

On 24 June 2016 the right to live in the United Kingdom for over 3 million people of its people was suddenly cast into doubt. If generous provision is not made for them we are looking at the biggest mass expulsion of population since 1290, when Edward I infamously ordered...

12th July 2016
BY Colin Yeo

Last week the Court of Justice of the European Union gave judgment in the case of NA C-115/15 on the vexed issue of retained rights of residence for victims of domestic violence. It is hard to care given the result of the Brexit referendum but it is a very important...

6th July 2016
BY Colin Yeo

Some worrying news from The Guardian: UK citizenship has been given to the children of eastern Europeans living in Britain without the proper paperwork, the Guardian has learned. The affected families come from countries including Poland and the Czech Republic that joined the EU in 2004 and so far around...

1st July 2016
BY colinyeo

First of all, as I have written previously, it seems highly likely that those EU nationals and their families currently resident in the UK will be allowed to remain. We do not know on what basis but it nevertheless seems highly likely. There are very many concerned readers of this...

30th June 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The people of what is currently the United Kingdom have voted to leave the European Union. What happens now? Here I am going to take a quick look at the immediate consequences for EU nationals living in the UK. In short, there are no immediate legal consequences that flow directly...

24th June 2016
BY Colin Yeo
23rd June 2016
BY Colin Yeo

The relationship between the ECHR and the EU By Nuala Mole, Senior Lawyer, The AIRE Centre, 9 June 2016 Introduction The European Union (EU) is a Union of 28 states. The Council of Europe is an intergovernmental organisation with 47 Member States, 28 of whom are also Member States of...

13th June 2016
BY ILPA

The implications for Scotland of a vote in the EU referendum for the UK to leave the EU By Sarah Craig, Maria Fletcher and Nina Miller-Westoby, School of Law, University of Glasgow, 1 June 2016 Introduction One view of the relevant EU and UK law suggests that the implications for...

10th June 2016
BY ILPA

The EU’s Borders: Schengen, Frontex and the UK By Bernard Ryan, Professor of Law, University of Leicester, 19 May 2016 Introduction This paper is concerned with the relationship of the UK to the framework of immigration control at EU borders. That framework has two main elements: the absence of immigration...

8th June 2016
BY ILPA

The UK Referendum on the EU and the Common European Asylum System By Elspeth Guild, Partner, Kingsley Napley, 29 April 2016 Introduction The issues of refugees’ arrival, reception and protection have been particularly evident in the political debate in the UK and elsewhere in the EU over the past six...

7th June 2016
BY ILPA

The Impact of Brexit By Steve Peers, University of Essex, 17 May 2016 Introduction What would happen if the UK left the EU? In each case, that would depend on what the UK and EU negotiated afterward. But it is possible to give some general indication of the consequences. The...

6th June 2016
BY ILPA

The implications of UK withdrawal for immigration policy and nationality law: Irish aspects By Bernard Ryan, Professor of Law, University of Leicester, 18 May 2016 Introduction This paper addresses the Irish dimensions to a UK decision to withdraw from the EU, in the immigration and nationality policy spheres. It addresses...

5th June 2016
BY ILPA

Free Movement and Criminal Law By Valsamis Mitsilegas, Queen Mary University of London 18 May 2016 Introduction One of the claims frequently made by critics of freedom of movement is that free movement of EU citizens is unlimited, even when these citizens have committed criminal offences. The purpose of this...

3rd June 2016
BY ILPA

EU Citizens’ Access to Welfare Benefits: Past, Present and Future By Desmond Rutledge, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers 13 May 2016 Introduction Since the UK joined what is now called the European Union (EU), migrant workers, who are nationals of other EU member states, and their family members, have enjoyed extensive...

2nd June 2016
BY ILPA

EU free movement in practice at home and abroad By Matthew Evans, Director, The AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe), 10 May 2016 Introduction At its core the EU project remains a common or single market, involving reciprocal commitments so that not only products (goods and services) but...

1st June 2016
BY ILPA

Rights of Entry and Residence By Steve Peers, University of Essex, 17 May 2016 Introduction The free movement of EU citizens to the UK (and vice versa) is a key feature of the UK’s EU membership. However, it is too simple to describe this as a ‘loss of control of...

31st May 2016
BY ILPA

Free movement of persons and the single market By Catherine Barnard, Trinity College, Cambridge 10 May 2016; Case studies 1, 3 and 4 provided by Laura Devine Solicitors Introduction This note considers the centrality of migration to the EU’s single market. It also considers the relevant EU Treaty provisions and...

30th May 2016
BY ILPA

Sovereignty and legitimacy: the UK and the EU By Adrian Berry, barrister, Garden Court Chambers and Rowena Moffatt, barrister, Doughty Street Chambers, 29 April 2016 Introduction The relationship between the UK and the EU raises issues about the UK as a sovereign power, and as to the legitimacy of the...

27th May 2016
BY ILPA

As if Michael Gove MP needed further reminding, in wake of Colin Yeo’s appearance on World at One on Wednesday where he pointed out the fundamental error of the Justice Secretary’s assertion that Britain cannot deport EEA nationals with a criminal record, the Supreme Court in R (on the application...

25th April 2016
BY Chris McWatters

A High Court judge has awarded the family member of an EU national a total of £136,048 in damages. The award consists of £76,578 for false imprisonment and £59,470 for breach of EU law. The Home Office is also criticised for having made “inaccurate and misleading” submissions to previous judges...

30th March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

I recently made a partially successful Freedom of Information request on waiting times for different types of EEA residence documents. The information for the whole of 2015 taken as an average was released but not more recent information on current waiting times in 2016. The waiting times were as follows:...

23rd March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

In an interesting but almost impenetrable judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union gives some guidance on procedural protections available to those bringing challenges to EU law decisions which adversely affect them. The case is Benalla v Belgium C‑161/15. The point that arose was a fairly obscure one....

18th March 2016
BY Colin Yeo

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