Immigration roundup podcast: May 2025
10 June 2025
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May is over and the immigration white paper has finally been published, so Sonia spends a bit of time at the beginning of this month’s
May is over and the immigration white paper has finally been published, so Sonia spends a bit of time at the beginning of this month’s
It was a relatively quiet April ahead of what looks to be a busy May. Sonia is joined by Andrew again this month. Sonia runs
This month Barry is away and so his colleague Andrew Jones has stepped up and stepped in to co-host with Sonia, and frankly made it
The February podcast is here! We kick off with Sonia briefly summarising the recently published statistics for 2024. There was then a lot to cover
Sonia and Barry are back already to celebrate the end of January! There is a brief look back at 2024 and look forward to 2025
It’s goodbye to 2024 in this month’s podcast, with Sonia and Barry wrapping up December. They spend a bit of time discussing eVisas at the
Barry returns and joins Sonia to run you through November on Free Movement. It was statistics galore for Sonia who covered the latest immigration, asylum
Colin’s back! But for how long? All is revealed in our October roundup podcast. Plus Sonia and Colin discuss hot topics such as the new
In this episode of the podcast Barry does everyone a big favour by taking us through the autumn statement of changes in detail. Sonia and
Barry joins Sonia again this month to look back at what happened in August. We cover the latest statistics on asylum, immigration and trafficking. There
It’s August and Colin is away on holiday so Sonia was joined by a very special guest, Barry O’Leary, for the July roundup. Sonia and
Here is your June round up of Free Movement. In this episode Colin and Sonia discuss why the Illegal Migration Act should be repealed, an
In this podcast Sonia discusses Kalayaan’s new report “12 years of modern slavery” with Avril Sharp, immigration lawyer and policy officer. The report looks at
Here is your May round up of Free Movement. In this episode Colin and Sonia look at the latest immigration, asylum and trafficking statistics, including
In the April roundup Colin and Sonia cover the new Rwanda Act and the process for sending a person to Rwanda, challenges to the use
In the March roundup, Sonia and Colin discuss the latest with Albanian cases as uncovered in the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report
Your February roundup is here as promised. Colin and I discuss Shamima Begum’s latest appeal, the pause on some asylum cases, a run of decisions
Colin and I have rounded up January 2024. We cover the government’s claims to have cleared the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog and look at the three
In our December 2023 round up, Colin and Sonia discuss the latest developments with Home Office evictions and withdrawals, as well as the new Rwanda
Our November roundup is here, where Colin and I cover the latest asylum and trafficking statistics, changes to the way late applications to the EU
Our October immigration round up is here and as we recorded shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Rwanda litigation we included discussion of
In this podcast, Jamila Duncan-Bosu of the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit discusses how the seasonal agricultural workers scheme facilitates exploitation, the barriers to people
Our September roundup is here, featuring the latest statement of changes and new parts of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 being brought into force. We
Here is our August roundup and the first podcast with Sonia both leading and at the editing helm (eek!). This month we cover statistics, illegal
We are a bit behind the times this month, catching up from the summer. This time Sonia and I cover not one but two statements
This month Sonia and I discuss the Rwanda judgment (we’re saving that to the end as our good news story), a couple of fairly lengthy
This month Sonia and I start with the Big Free Movement News (spoiler: Sonia is joining the team as the new Editor) and then cover
This month we talk more about the Illegal Migration Bill and its potential consequences, the right way to go about tackling the asylum backlog, Colin’s
For this month’s roundup podcast, Sonia and I manage to rattle through a huge volume of updates in a mere 36 minutes. We cover a
This month Sonia and I talk through various government policies all about being horrible to migrants. It’s a seemingly inexhaustible vein. Indeed, there aren’t many
Colin and Sonia take a look back at 2022 and ahead to 2023 as well as covering the immigration updates from December 2022. Looking back,
This month, Colin and Sonia mainly talk about an avalanche of asylum-related news, law and updates. It’s not all asylum, though, there’s also some blog
Welcome to the October 2022 episode of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month, Colin and Sonia talk politics, asylum, the statement of changes
Welcome to the September 2022 episode of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I am joined again by “immigration lawyer about town”, as
Welcome to episode 104 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I am joined by “immigration lawyer about town”, as she put it,
Welcome to episode 103 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month — the first in something like five years flying solo — I’m
Welcome to episode 102 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with elements of the Borders Act 2022 coming into force
Welcome to episode 101 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with some great news on fees, then some updates on
Welcome to episode 100 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got some pretty major asylum stuff to go over plus quite
Welcome to episode 99 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with statements of changes to the Immigration Rules on Ukraine,
May is over and the immigration white paper has finally been published, so Sonia spends a bit of time at the beginning of this month’s podcast reliving the horrors of that. Andrew covers a very wide range of topics in this episode, from deprivation of citizenship to “self sponsorship” to...
It was a relatively quiet April ahead of what looks to be a busy May. Sonia is joined by Andrew again this month. Sonia runs through the amendments made at committee stage of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration one and despaired over the lack of attention given to the...
The February podcast is here! We kick off with Sonia briefly summarising the recently published statistics for 2024. There was then a lot to cover on asylum with several case updates and of course the recent Home Office changes to the good character requirements. Barry was thrilled to be able...
Sonia and Barry are back already to celebrate the end of January! There is a brief look back at 2024 and look forward to 2025 which of course now includes the new Bill (seriously what are we calling this thing for short? BSAIB just doesn’t work, as Barry ably demonstrates)....
It’s goodbye to 2024 in this month’s podcast, with Sonia and Barry wrapping up December. They spend a bit of time discussing eVisas at the beginning of the podcast, before moving on to asylum and trafficking where issues around the quality of decision making have been raised in a couple...
Barry returns and joins Sonia to run you through November on Free Movement. It was statistics galore for Sonia who covered the latest immigration, asylum and trafficking figures. A surprise statement of changes contained bad news for Colombians and Ukrainians. Barry was a really big fan of Colin’s review of...
Colin’s back! But for how long? All is revealed in our October roundup podcast. Plus Sonia and Colin discuss hot topics such as the new practice direction for appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, appeals backlogs, issues in asylum interviews and reaccreditation for the Law Society’s immigration and asylum scheme. We...
In this episode of the podcast Barry does everyone a big favour by taking us through the autumn statement of changes in detail. Sonia and Barry also have a bit of a call to arms on discretionary grants of indefinite leave to remain and tackling the ten year route. The...
Barry joins Sonia again this month to look back at what happened in August. We cover the latest statistics on asylum, immigration and trafficking. There are a couple of cases relating to asylum family reunion, as well as a policy change for those separated during Operation Pitting. Other cases covered...
It’s August and Colin is away on holiday so Sonia was joined by a very special guest, Barry O’Leary, for the July roundup. Sonia and Barry discussed the end of the Rwanda scheme and the resumed processing of asylum cases, things not to do when carrying out an asylum backlog...
Here is your June round up of Free Movement. In this episode Colin and Sonia discuss why the Illegal Migration Act should be repealed, an appalling decision on trafficking delays, a much better decision on section 3C leave, the raised standard of proof in asylum claims, one and a bit...
In this podcast Sonia discusses Kalayaan’s new report “12 years of modern slavery” with Avril Sharp, immigration lawyer and policy officer. The report looks at the history of the overseas domestic worker visa, and the harmful changes that have made. They also discuss the impact of the Nationality and Borders...
Here is your May round up of Free Movement. In this episode Colin and Sonia look at the latest immigration, asylum and trafficking statistics, including discussion of the fee waiver backlog. They also cover the latest on “safe and legal” routes for those in Afghanistan and Gaza. Sonia nerds it...
In the April roundup Colin and Sonia cover the new Rwanda Act and the process for sending a person to Rwanda, challenges to the use of the inadmissibility process, the government’s response to the increase in arrivals of Vietnamese nationals and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report...
In the March roundup, Sonia and Colin discuss the latest with Albanian cases as uncovered in the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration’s report on asylum casework. We cover articles looking at recent changes to the Ukraine schemes, as well as a reminder of the existence of Hamid cases...
Your February roundup is here as promised. Colin and I discuss Shamima Begum’s latest appeal, the pause on some asylum cases, a run of decisions involving poor conduct on the part of either the Tribunals or the Home Office, as well as corporate transactions, the sudden closure of the Ukraine...
Colin and I have rounded up January 2024. We cover the government’s claims to have cleared the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog and look at the three backlogs that have replaced it. We discuss the latest in an increasingly long list of cases in which the Home Office has behaved poorly. Also...
In our December 2023 round up, Colin and Sonia discuss the latest developments with Home Office evictions and withdrawals, as well as the new Rwanda legislation. We also cover the government’s five point plan to reduce net migration as well as the latest case law and Tribunal statistics. If you...
Our November roundup is here, where Colin and I cover the latest asylum and trafficking statistics, changes to the way late applications to the EU settlement scheme are treated, questions the Solicitors Regulation Authority still hasn’t answered, a couple of articles on the situation for Palestinians as well as quite...
Our October immigration round up is here and as we recorded shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Rwanda litigation we included discussion of that at the beginning. Do keep listening after that though, as Colin and I cover everything from fishing to legal aid shortages via eSports, medico-legal...
In this podcast, Jamila Duncan-Bosu of the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit discusses how the seasonal agricultural workers scheme facilitates exploitation, the barriers to people raising complaints about their treatment, and what the government can and should be doing about it. Last week, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the...
Our September roundup is here, featuring the latest statement of changes and new parts of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 being brought into force. We also discuss the Brook House inquiry, the Rwanda litigation, new immigration fees and illegal working fines and have an impromptu book club. If you listen...
Here is our August roundup and the first podcast with Sonia both leading and at the editing helm (eek!). This month we cover statistics, illegal working fines, asylum support, homeless refugees, adult dependent relatives, some EUSS updates and all things OISC. If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone,...
We are a bit behind the times this month, catching up from the summer. This time Sonia and I cover not one but two statements of changes, the Illegal Migration Act, asylum withdrawals, the massive increase in fees, several legal updates on the rights of EU citizens and a load...
This month Sonia and I discuss the Rwanda judgment (we’re saving that to the end as our good news story), a couple of fairly lengthy immigration and asylum history blog posts I’ve been working on for a while, several asylum developments and also our Refugee Week content, some procedural updates,...
This month we talk more about the Illegal Migration Bill and its potential consequences, the right way to go about tackling the asylum backlog, Colin’s suggestion of a new British Citizenship Act, the resumption of hostile environment bank account closures, we run through a load of cases and end by...
For this month’s roundup podcast, Sonia and I manage to rattle through a huge volume of updates in a mere 36 minutes. We cover a load of cases, some important asylum policy updates and then several developments in immigration law as well. We’re sorry it is a little later than...
This month Sonia and I talk through various government policies all about being horrible to migrants. It’s a seemingly inexhaustible vein. Indeed, there aren’t many (any?) government immigration policies NOT about being horrible to migrants. We then move on to discuss a few different nationality law issues, including the mind-boggling...
Colin and Sonia take a look back at 2022 and ahead to 2023 as well as covering the immigration updates from December 2022. Looking back, they talk about small boat crossings, the Ukraine and Hong Kong schemes, the impact (or lack of) the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Rwanda...
This month, Colin and Sonia mainly talk about an avalanche of asylum-related news, law and updates. It’s not all asylum, though, there’s also some blog posts to go over on Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, third party support in spouse applications, marriages in durable partner cases, the opening of the citizenship route...
Welcome to the October 2022 episode of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month, Colin and Sonia talk politics, asylum, the statement of changes to the immigration rules and case law. The episode is a bit longer than usual as there was a lot going on! If you would...
Welcome to the September 2022 episode of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I am joined again by “immigration lawyer about town”, as she put it, Sonia Lenegan. She is in danger of becoming a co-presenter if she carries on like this… Amongst other things, we talk about...
Welcome to episode 104 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I am joined by “immigration lawyer about town”, as she put it, Sonia Lenegan. Taking pity on me after my solo effort last month, Sonia is the legal and policy director at Rainbow Migration, a consultant solicitor...
Welcome to episode 103 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month — the first in something like five years flying solo — I’m starting with some material on asylum and trafficking then quickly going over a bit of immigration and nationality history and why it matters today, before...
Welcome to episode 102 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with elements of the Borders Act 2022 coming into force before moving on to Appendix Private Life and Appendix FM. We then review the latest case law on criminal deportation, touch briefly on Zambrano applications,...
Welcome to episode 101 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with some great news on fees, then some updates on the new Borders Act before turning to Rwanda and asylum more broadly. We have a quick check-in on business immigration and end on the latest...
Welcome to episode 100 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got some pretty major asylum stuff to go over plus quite a few different topics, including compensation for unlawful removal, the unending saga of the English language tests, new immigration fees, changes to work visas, a...
Welcome to episode 99 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with statements of changes to the Immigration Rules on Ukraine, ten-year routes to settlement and the suite of new business visas. I then try not to get too cross about Comprehensive Sickness Insurance before turning...