Marriage and civil partnerships inspection report
31 January 2013
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The latest report by John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, was published this week. It concerns applications to enter, remain and
The latest report by John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, was published this week. It concerns applications to enter, remain and
Litigation is an expensive business, and immigration is a litigious business. As the recent brouhaha around judicial review revealed, the vast majority of judicial review
Just a reminder that time does not run over the Christmas period for lodging appeals in the First-tier Tribunal against its decisions. See the Asylum
The consultation on changes to the procedure for judicial review has opened and it closes on 24 January 2013. Regular readers will recall that these
Following on from the case of Ahmadi ( s. 47 decision: validity; Sapkota) [2012] UKUT 00147 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal has (for now) resolved the
The reported Upper Tribunal case of Kalidas (agreed facts – best practice) [2012] UKUT 00327 (IAC) underscores some important points of practice and procedure in
The President of the Queens Bench Division, Sir John Thomas, has issued a dire warning to solicitors applying for last minute judicial reviews and injunctions
As of 1 October 2012 a new procedure has been introduced for judicial review of decisions by the Upper Tribunal to refuse permission to appeal
Following on from his learned but — at least on the question of what a judge should actually do— slightly Delphic determination in AG and others
This post is definitely one for the lawyers, I’m afraid, as it concerns an important but difficult to explain area of European Union free movement
A new “subjective” element has been discovered and can be found in the Immigration Appeals Family Visitor Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1532). Watch out for this
The Government is amending the Crime and Courts Bill to allow transfer of any or all immigration, asylum and nationality judicial review cases from the
This is the second post in a short series on the Zambrano judgment. The first part was Making a Zambrano application. Next time: Whither Zambrano?
Kezia Tobin and Sarah Pinder recently broached this topic at a seminar given by Renaissance Chambers on 13 June 2012 digesting the procedural issues and
As has been widely reported in the mainstream media, the Government proposes to scrap family visitor appeal rights. Again. The change is intended to come
The Vice President of the Upper Tribunal has recently provided guidance applicable to cases where a party is alleging misconduct by a Judge. In the
Court of Session upholds an application for judicial review of Upper Tribunal refusal of permission to appeal. The Outer House of the Court of Session
Far too late to be of use to anyone, the Upper Tribunal has held that the controversial commencement of section 85A did not affect appeals
UPDATED AND REVISED Judgment was handed down this morning by the Court of Appeal in a test case on the nature of the second appeals
In the second Court of Appeal judgment from last week in which Zane Malik was Counsel for the Appellant, that of Lamichhane v Secretary of
Lord Justice Ward is at it again: This is another of those frustrating appeals which characterise – and, some may even think, disfigure – certain
The Upper Tribunal haven’t hung around in turning their attention to the recent case of Sapkota v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011]
The Court of Appeal last week handed down a very interesting judgment on the need for ‘proper argument’ in Country Guidance cases, the obligation on the
As previously highlighted on this blog, fees are to be introduced for immigration appeals. The date has now been set for this to begin: for
Invalid immigration applications cause serious difficulties. The problem is that the UK Border Agency advises people not to make applications until shortly before their existing
In a dense judgment that more than once has caused me to question my will to live the Court of Appeal has held that it
An interesting case on the use of electronic means (telephone, video link, Skype, Morse, that sort of thing) has been determined in North Shields. As
The recent Court of Appeal decision in SH (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWCA Civ 1284 repays reading for the way
The Upper Tribunal has reported a decision on the effect of the new section 85A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002: Alam (s
After what felt like something of a hiatus early in the year, the tribunal has been churning out new reported cases in recent months as
Mark Symes has posted an article over at the HJT Immigration Blog on a new case from the Court of Appeal on the ‘second appeal
Last week, while I was away, the Supreme Court held that the Upper Tribunal can be judicially reviewed, and in much wider circumstances than envisaged
Not much to report on this one, just that I tried a Freedom of Information request on the criteria for deciding Legacy cases and get
I’m full of good news today! The rumours were true and section 19 of the UK Borders Act 2007 is being brought into force as
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that fees will be charged for lodging appeals in the immigration tribunal from October 2011. There is no summary
I’ve just seen the first half decent cross examination by a Presenting Officer that I can remember in a long time. This is partly because
I’ve been working on new training notes and having fun (noooooo!) deleting all of the references to the unlamented Asylum and Immigration Tribunal for the
No time for proper posting right now, too much to do. Although I do have some long train journeys looming ahead of me… I heard
Following on from my earlier alerter post, I’ve now had time to properly read and start digesting the Supreme Court judgment in BA (Nigeria) v
There has been a noticeable trend recently for the Home Office to refuse applications but not to take enforcement action. Several lawyers have commented on
The latest report by John Vine, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, was published this week. It concerns applications to enter, remain and settle in the UK on the basis of marriage and civil partnerships and the summary of recommendations is that the UK Border Agency: Assesses all...
Litigation is an expensive business, and immigration is a litigious business. As the recent brouhaha around judicial review revealed, the vast majority of judicial review cases in the High Court and on appeal up to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court are immigration cases. On top of that are...
Just a reminder that time does not run over the Christmas period for lodging appeals in the First-tier Tribunal against its decisions. See the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2005 (as heavily amended) rule 2 definition of ‘business day’, which excludes 25 to 31 December, read with rule 57,...
The consultation on changes to the procedure for judicial review has opened and it closes on 24 January 2013. Regular readers will recall that these proposals were said by David Cameron to be part of the Government’s efforts to combat the recession, an effort comparable to Britain’s wartime effort against...
Following on from the case of Ahmadi ( s. 47 decision: validity; Sapkota) [2012] UKUT 00147 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal has (for now) resolved the perplexing issue of what to do when the Secretary of State combines a refusal to vary leave with a Section 47 removal. This issue is...
The reported Upper Tribunal case of Kalidas (agreed facts – best practice) [2012] UKUT 00327 (IAC) underscores some important points of practice and procedure in the First Tier Tribunal (FTT). The case concerned an appeal before the FTT where it appears to have been agreed between the Appellant and Respondent...
The President of the Queens Bench Division, Sir John Thomas, has issued a dire warning to solicitors applying for last minute judicial reviews and injunctions in immigration cases. The comments come in the case of R (on the application of Hamid) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012]...
As of 1 October 2012 a new procedure has been introduced for judicial review of decisions by the Upper Tribunal to refuse permission to appeal to itself. This follows on from the Supreme Court’s judgment in Cart and MR (Pakistan) [2011] UKSC 28 (previous post). A new Rule 54.7A is...
Following on from his learned but — at least on the question of what a judge should actually do— slightly Delphic determination in AG and others (Policies; executive discretions; Tribunal’s powers) Kosovo [2007] UKAIT 00082, the Deputy President Mr Ockelton has returned to the issue of dealing with executive discretion...
This post is definitely one for the lawyers, I’m afraid, as it concerns an important but difficult to explain area of European Union free movement law: obtaining evidence in retained rights of residence cases. A few weeks ago my roommate in chambers, the marvellous Francis Allen, told me with more...
A new “subjective” element has been discovered and can be found in the Immigration Appeals Family Visitor Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/1532). Watch out for this worrying little element as it has the potential to restrict the appeal rights of unmarried partners. The 2012 Regulations defines who is a “family member”...
The Government is amending the Crime and Courts Bill to allow transfer of any or all immigration, asylum and nationality judicial review cases from the High Court to the Upper Tribunal. This seems to have pretty much universal support from Government, Opposition, the High Court and the Upper Tribunal. It...
This is the second post in a short series on the Zambrano judgment. The first part was Making a Zambrano application. Next time: Whither Zambrano? by Iain Palmer. Following on from the last post on Zambrano, the position of the UK Border Agency is that a decision that a Zambrano...
Kezia Tobin and Sarah Pinder recently broached this topic at a seminar given by Renaissance Chambers on 13 June 2012 digesting the procedural issues and most recent case-law involved and this post has been put together by them both to highlight some of the issues covered. The notes highlight the...
As has been widely reported in the mainstream media, the Government proposes to scrap family visitor appeal rights. Again. The change is intended to come into full effect in 2014 but as early as July 2012 the definition of ‘family’ will be narrowed to exclude cousins, uncles, aunts, nieces or...
The Vice President of the Upper Tribunal has recently provided guidance applicable to cases where a party is alleging misconduct by a Judge. In the recently reported case of Azia (proof of misconduct by judge) [2012] UKUT 00096 (IAC) the official head note states: A party alleging misconduct by a...
Court of Session upholds an application for judicial review of Upper Tribunal refusal of permission to appeal. The Outer House of the Court of Session (equivalent to the Administrative Court) has upheld a judicial review of an Upper Tribunal refusal of permission to appeal. As far as is known to...
Far too late to be of use to anyone, the Upper Tribunal has held that the controversial commencement of section 85A did not affect appeals that had already been lodged. The case is Shahzad (s. 85A: commencement) Pakistan [2012] UKUT 81 (IAC). It was heard by a panel including the...
In the second Court of Appeal judgment from last week in which Zane Malik was Counsel for the Appellant, that of Lamichhane v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] EWCA Civ 260, the same bench has given another judgment that many migrants will find unhelpful. Essentially, the Court...
Lord Justice Ward is at it again: This is another of those frustrating appeals which characterise – and, some may even think, disfigure – certain aspects of the work in the immigration field. Here we have one of those whirligig cases where an asylum seeker goes up and down on...
The Upper Tribunal haven’t hung around in turning their attention to the recent case of Sapkota v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWCA Civ 1320, which was only reported here on the blog three weeks ago. They have also reviewed the authorities leading up to Sapkota and...
The Court of Appeal last week handed down a very interesting judgment on the need for ‘proper argument’ in Country Guidance cases, the obligation on the tribunal itself to seek to secure that proper argument and how far the tribunal determination process can morph from an adversarial to an inquisitorial...
As previously highlighted on this blog, fees are to be introduced for immigration appeals. The date has now been set for this to begin: for notices of decision dated 19 December 2011 or later. Strangely, as far as I can see, you won’t find anything about this on the Immigration...
Invalid immigration applications cause serious difficulties. The problem is that the UK Border Agency advises people not to make applications until shortly before their existing leave is due to expire. However, it often takes the Border Agency days or weeks to look at the application, by which time the person’s...
An interesting case on the use of electronic means (telephone, video link, Skype, Morse, that sort of thing) has been determined in North Shields. As the tribunal comes close to saying, it is serendipitous that it should be here where this issue would arise again, after the notorious case of...
The recent Court of Appeal decision in SH (Afghanistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] EWCA Civ 1284 repays reading for the way it reiterates the centrality of procedural fairness, especially in asylum cases. At the heart of the case is a challenge to an Immigration Judge’s...
The Upper Tribunal has reported a decision on the effect of the new section 85A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002: Alam (s 85A – commencement – Article 8) Bangladesh [2011] UKUT 00424 (IAC). The official headnote reads as follows: (1) Where it applies, s. 85A of the...
After what felt like something of a hiatus early in the year, the tribunal has been churning out new reported cases in recent months as if there was no tomorrow. As far as I know no-one has suggested scrapping the Immigration and Asylum Chamber YET, although it is surely only...
Last week, while I was away, the Supreme Court held that the Upper Tribunal can be judicially reviewed, and in much wider circumstances than envisaged previously by the High Court and the Court of Appeal. For England and Wales the case is Cart and MR (Pakistan) [2011] UKSC 28 and...
Not much to report on this one, just that I tried a Freedom of Information request on the criteria for deciding Legacy cases and get a non-answer back in return. The request was refused to begin with but that decision was overturned on appeal. The information gleaned is already more...
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that fees will be charged for lodging appeals in the immigration tribunal from October 2011. There is no summary and the important details are spread out all over the place, meaning the document requires careful and close reading to comprehend. Frankly, it is not...
I’ve just seen the first half decent cross examination by a Presenting Officer that I can remember in a long time. This is partly because Presenting Officers are an endangered and rarely encountered species these days, but largely because they are generally allowed to get away with questions that are...
I’ve been working on new training notes and having fun (noooooo!) deleting all of the references to the unlamented Asylum and Immigration Tribunal for the next edition of the HJT Immigration Manual. I thought I would share some of the fruits of my labours with you all. I’ll be delivering...
No time for proper posting right now, too much to do. Although I do have some long train journeys looming ahead of me… I heard today in court that the reason why second stage reconsideration cases are being brought forward is because after 15 February 2010 when the Asylum and...
Following on from my earlier alerter post, I’ve now had time to properly read and start digesting the Supreme Court judgment in BA (Nigeria) v SSHD [2009] UKSC 7. It is certainly good news in terms of streamlining and ensuring that there is proper protection available to those who make...
There has been a noticeable trend recently for the Home Office to refuse applications but not to take enforcement action. Several lawyers have commented on this elsewhere, I’ve just come across a couple of cases and so has a colleague in chambers. Where a person’s leave has already expired, if...
