There was a great article in The Guardian yesterday (yes, of course I read The Guardian) about a possible upcoming shortage of Polish plumbers. It
I’ve been spurred back into blogging by a report I just saw from The Independent. It’s about what the Home Office and lawyers call ‘re-documentation’.
Further to previous posts on this subject, there have been suggestions that the legacy ‘case resolution exercise’ is producing some surprisingly humane outcomes. An organisation previously unknown to
There have been some excellent and well-informed posts about this case already in the legal blogging world, notably at Nearly Legal, Head of Legal and
An entertaining couple of articles appeared in The Mail on Sunday over the weekend. I’m not exactly a regular reader of that publication, but was
There’s no amnesty. That’s all. I wish it wasn’t necessary to repeat this, but good immigration lawyers and good community groups are reporting increasing numbers
There have been a lot of hits on this site from people looking for news about the Zimbabwe test cases. The latest news is that
Exactly one year ago, on 25 July 2006, then Home Secretary John Reid announced that his officials had found around 400,000 to 450,000 unclosed asylum files
There have been a few emails flying around amongst refugee lawyers recently about a court-ordered suspension on removals to the Democratic Republic of Congo. NCADC
I’ve just seen press reports that the Home Office is suggesting that immigration enforcement officers are issued with nice pastel-coloured uniforms (‘standard-issued clothing’) when doing dawn raids
I’ve updated the Borders Bill page here with a little more up to date information. This follows a Home Office press release on 25 June
A few weeks ago, Channel 4 showed a documentary as part of the Unreported World series. The title was Mugabe’s Reign of Terror. The production
The framework for immigration control is mainly contained in the Immigration Act 1971. This has been amended by major pieces of primary legislation in 1988,
It is a question faced by all immigrants. To be uprooted from your own country, culture and kinship network leads to enormous dislocation and can be deeply
Co-incidentally, after my last post on Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (UASCs) an excellent but depressing article appeared in The Guardian on the same topic. It
The test case of AA (Zimbabwe), mentioned in previous posts, is being dropped by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in favour of another case, called
Yesterday the Foreign and Commonwealth Office launched a new forced marriage survivor’s handbook. A specific team, the Forced Marriage Unit, was set up two years ago
Until 2002 or thereabouts, the minimum age for the fiance in the UK who was to marry the person from abroad was 16 but the
There was a great article in The Guardian yesterday (yes, of course I read The Guardian) about a possible upcoming shortage of Polish plumbers. It has been predicted that British householders will soon be moaning about having to use underskilled, overpriced native ‘workers’. The serious point is that the immigration...
I’ve been spurred back into blogging by a report I just saw from The Independent. It’s about what the Home Office and lawyers call ‘re-documentation’. Where an asylum claim fails, the Home Office are quick to start preparing asylum seekers for express delivery whence they came. Where the asylum seeker...
Further to previous posts on this subject, there have been suggestions that the legacy ‘case resolution exercise’ is producing some surprisingly humane outcomes. An organisation previously unknown to me called Positive Action In Housing (PAIH – I’ve included a link on my blogroll as they seem to be making good...
There have been some excellent and well-informed posts about this case already in the legal blogging world, notably at Nearly Legal, Head of Legal and the prolific Jailhouse Lawyer. No-one has explained the rationale for why the relevant EC Directive — full title Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens...
An entertaining couple of articles appeared in The Mail on Sunday over the weekend. I’m not exactly a regular reader of that publication, but was tipped off about it. Immigration Judge “J” of Brazilian cleaner infamy gives an interview to the ‘Femail’ supplement. She comes across, rather unsurprisingly, as bitter...
There’s no amnesty. That’s all. I wish it wasn’t necessary to repeat this, but good immigration lawyers and good community groups are reporting increasing numbers of walk-in clients who have been charged large sums to make an application under the alleged amnesty, and now some idiot has put out a...
There have been a lot of hits on this site from people looking for news about the Zimbabwe test cases. The latest news is that last week’s hearing is now over. The panel consisted of Mr Ockelton (Deputy President of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal), Dr Storey (in charge of...
Exactly one year ago, on 25 July 2006, then Home Secretary John Reid announced that his officials had found around 400,000 to 450,000 unclosed asylum files found down the back of the sofas at Lunar House, home of the then Immigration and Nationality Directorate, now the Border and Immigration Agency....
There have been a few emails flying around amongst refugee lawyers recently about a court-ordered suspension on removals to the Democratic Republic of Congo. NCADC have posted up some information about the situation. In summary, a high court judge recently ordered that a removal to DRC was suspended until after...
I’ve just seen press reports that the Home Office is suggesting that immigration enforcement officers are issued with nice pastel-coloured uniforms (‘standard-issued clothing’) when doing dawn raids on families to remove them from our shores. It’s reassuring to see that child welfare is being taken so seriously. Next stop, removing...
I’ve updated the Borders Bill page here with a little more up to date information. This follows a Home Office press release on 25 June 2007 announcing that protection for children subject to immigration control will be enhanced. I’ve taken a look at the latest amendments tabled before the Lords,...
A few weeks ago, Channel 4 showed a documentary as part of the Unreported World series. The title was Mugabe’s Reign of Terror. The production company, Quicksilver Media, have taken the view that the programme is in the public domain and have made the transcript available, although they have pointed...
The framework for immigration control is mainly contained in the Immigration Act 1971. This has been amended by major pieces of primary legislation in 1988, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and probably also in 2007 by the UK Borders Bill currently before Parliament. Each Act has involved an...
It is a question faced by all immigrants. To be uprooted from your own country, culture and kinship network leads to enormous dislocation and can be deeply traumatic. Living in exile is difficult, whether it is the result of forced movement or is voluntarily undertaken. Migrants of both variety often...
Co-incidentally, after my last post on Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (UASCs) an excellent but depressing article appeared in The Guardian on the same topic. It describes the circumstances in which many refugee children live and was prompted by a piece of research by the excellent Heaven Crawley (full report, executive...
The test case of AA (Zimbabwe), mentioned in previous posts, is being dropped by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in favour of another case, called HS (Zimbabwe). This is apparently because the AIT did not want to have to deal with argument about what issues the Court of Appeal ordered...
Yesterday the Foreign and Commonwealth Office launched a new forced marriage survivor’s handbook. A specific team, the Forced Marriage Unit, was set up two years ago to deal with this issue and is reported to be dealing with 250 cases a year. Obviously, these cases are extremely traumatic for the...
