Author Archive
Solicitors unfit to practise can become regulated immigration advisers
A solicitor who is suspended from practice can nevertheless advise clients on immigration law. This simple but perhaps surprising fact was highlighted by a recent case before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in which an East London solicitor unsuc ...
30th November 2017Asylum “lottery”: some hearing centres grant twice as many appeals
First-tier Tribunal appeals against asylum decisions are twice as likely to succeed at some hearing centres compared to others, a BBC investigation has found. 47% of appeals succeeded at Taylor House, whereas the success rate was as low as 21% at Yarl ...
29th November 2017Home Office loses a quarter of asylum decision-makers in six months
Over a quarter of the officials who take decisions on asylum applications quit the Home Office in a single six-month period, an inspector’s report has revealed. The number of “active” asylum decision-makers fell from 319 in January 2 ...
28th November 2017Immigration and the Budget
There is some good news, some bad news and some not-exactly-surprising news in today’s Budget. The good news comes in the form of more liberal rules for scientists, researchers and international students who want to work and settle in the UK: 4. ...
22nd November 2017Immigration minister: bank accounts could be wrongly frozen for a year
Immigration minister Brandon Lewis had rather a torrid time before the Home Affairs committee of MPs this morning. Committee chair Yvette Cooper raised concerns about the new requirements for banks to freeze or close the bank accounts of anyone who sh ...
21st November 2017Judicial review over treatment of EU rough sleepers begins
A judicial review challenge to the Home Office policy of detaining and deporting rough sleepers from EU countries has begun in the High Court. In 2016 the Home Office began accusing people – mainly Eastern Europeans – found sleeping on the ...
21st November 2017Rule 35 torture reports kept from lawyers, government analysis suggests
The legal representatives of immigration detainees who claimed to have been tortured or who may otherwise be unsuitable for detention were not given copies of their medical records, internal Home Office analysis shows. This was contrary to the depart ...
16th November 2017Inspection finds improvements at Yarl’s Wood but no clean bill of health
There have been “significant improvements” at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre, according to the latest report by the independent Chief Inspector of Prisons. Peter Clarke nevertheless documents “ongoing concerns” ab ...
15th November 2017Northern Irish tribunal finds against Home Office on dual nationality
A woman from Northern Ireland who refuses to identify as British in order to facilitate her husband’s immigration application has succeeded in her First-tier Tribunal challenge against the refusal of a residence card. The Home Office had told Em ...
15th November 2017EU countries accused of criminalising humanitarian help for migrants
Laws designed to combat trafficking are being misused to target those giving humanitarian assistance to migrants trying to reach the EU, the Institute for Race Relations says. A new report by the think tank finds that criminal laws are being used to p ...
14th November 2017Barrister becomes new trafficking minister
There has apparently been politics happening in the past few days, leading to a mini-reshuffle of government ministers. Priti Patel’s humiliation is Sarah Newton’s promotion: the Home Office’s most junior minister moves to the Depart ...
9th November 2017Donations sought to stop NHS giving patient data to Home Office
The Migrants’ Rights Network is crowdfunding for a legal challenge to stop the NHS becoming more involved in immigration enforcement. A data-sharing agreement with NHS Digital will allow the Home Office to access previously confidential informa ...
9th November 2017Khan case: Sala overturned in the Court of Appeal
In Sala (EFMs: Right of Appeal : Albania) [2016] UKUT 411 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal held that there was no right of appeal against a decision by the Home Office to refuse a residence card to the extended family member of an EEA citizen. The Court o ...
9th November 2017Tribunal judge publicly criticises Home Office presenting officers
A judge of the First-tier Tribunal has reportedly said that some Home Office presenting officers appearing before him are “worse than useless”. Judge Nicholas Easterman, who became an immigration judge in 2003, told a Bar Council event las ...
8th November 2017Government publishes details on settled status for EU citizens
The government has put a little flesh on its promise that EU citizens living in the UK will be able to apply for settled status in a way that is “new”, “streamlined” and “low cost”. A “technical note” ...
7th November 2017Where to find official guidance on immigration bail and detention
Practitioners may be wondering where on earth the Home Office guidance on bail and detention has got to. It used to be housed in a section of the Home Office website entitled “Chapters 46 to 62: detention and removals“. But as visitors to ...
6th November 2017Immigration appeal waiting times rise 13%, now take a year on average
The average immigration appeal takes almost 12 months to be resolved, up 13% on the same period last year. This is despite the fact that less than half as many people now have the chance to challenge Home Office decisions. The number of appeals handle ...
6th November 2017Spoons backs citizens’ rights
It’s beer o’clock, and if you’re in a JD Wetherspoon establishment this evening you may see a beer mat with this intoxicating sentiment: The UK should unilaterally and immediately grant full rights of citizenship to legal EU immigran ...
3rd November 2017Home Office responds to committee report, 15 months later
The government has responded to a report by MPs on the work of the Immigration Directorates – a mere 456 days after the report came out. When Home Affairs Select Committee began its enquiry, Brexit had not yet happened. It published its report ...
3rd November 2017Hostile environment backfiring on the Home Office, Chief Inspector finds
The hostile environment policy is making it more difficult for the Home Office to keep track of foreign national offenders and could even push up crime, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has said. David Bolt’s inspection ...
2nd November 2017Help Refugees loses Dubs amendment case, will appeal
Help Refugees has lost its challenge to the Home Office’s delay in relocating child refugees under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. The decision in R (Help Refugees Limited) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWHC 2727 ( ...
2nd November 2017New community sponsorship funding announced
£1 million in Home Office funding is now available to help with community sponsorship of refugees. The department says that The fund is for the community sponsorship scheme which enables community groups to take on the rewarding role of welcoming and ...
1st November 2017What to do if the Home Office closes your current account
Measures requiring banks to check on the immigration status of existing account holders come into force today. To celebrate, the Home Office has published some brief guidance for those who, as “disqualified persons”, find their current acc ...
30th October 2017“Madness, despair and horror” at Halloween
With Halloween approaching, a refugee charity is combining spooky tales with support for free movement. The Dead Poets Live event in London on Saturday 28 October promises “the most terrifying poems ever written”, read by a collection of w ...
26th October 2017How not to serve a curtailment letter
The Upper Tribunal has granted an application for judicial review in a case concerning service of a curtailment letter, holding that: (i) The effect of Article 8ZA of the Immigration (Leave to Enter and Remain) Order 2000 (SI No. 2000/1161), conside ...
25th October 2017Home Office relief for stroke victim family
Last week, we discussed the case of the Waterman family. Simon Waterman, a British citizen, had suffered a life-altering stroke, but the needs of Mr Waterman and his two children did not to the Home Office constitute “exceptional circumstances ...
23rd October 2017Curtailment letters can be sent to an overseas address
The Upper Tribunal, in a case concerning service of a curtailment letter to an address in Bangladesh, has held that: (i) Where the Secretary of State relies on a curtailment notice as having been deemed to have been given by being placed “on fil ...
23rd October 2017Changes to National Referral Mechanism for trafficking victims
The government has announced changes to the National Referral Mechanism, the official framework for identifying those who have been trafficked or enslaved. The Modern Slavery Taskforce announced the first three of what are to be a serious of improveme ...
20th October 2017Home Office: a stroke is not “exceptional circumstances”
An ex-soldier who struggles to walk, speak or perform basic household tasks following a stroke has been told that he must look after his children without their Philippine national mother because these do not constitute “exceptional circumstances ...
20th October 2017Theresa May’s open letter: what she said and what she meant
As I travel to Brussels today, I know that many people will be looking to us – the leaders of the 28 nations in the European Union – to demonstrate we are putting people first. I have a firm grasp of the technical detail. I have been clear th ...
19th October 2017“Good deeds” immigration lawyer struck off over judicial reviews
An immigration lawyer praised for his “good deeds” among the Chinese community has been struck off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Vay Sui Ip, a partner at Manchester firm Sandbrook Solicitors, was prosecuted by the Solicitors Reg ...
17th October 2017ILPA funding available for strategic litigation
Grants of up to £30,000 are now available through the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association to promote the rights of vulnerable migrant children and young adults. ILPA has relaunched the Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Young Migrants. ...
17th October 2017ILPA annual free movement seminar: report
What can immigration lawyers do when immigration law is uncertain? This was not, admittedly, the advertised theme of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association annual seminar on free movement, which took place on 4 October. But the enervatin ...
12th October 2017High Court defeat for Home Office over torture policy
The Home Office has lost a judicial review over its controversial change to the definition of torture in a claim brought by unlawfully detained torture victims. The judgment is in the case of Medical Justice & Ors v Secretary of State for the Hom ...
10th October 2017Garden Court barristers uncover immigration check “racial profiling”
Two immigration law practitioners, Chris Williams and Nicola Braganza, made headlines today for their part in an investigation highlighting “racial profiling” in UK immigration checks. The pair, both Garden Court tenants, worked with the ...
9th October 2017Home Office in breach of law over permanent residence waiting times
The Home Office has broken the law by failing to publish the waiting times faced by EU citizens trying to get residence documents. The Information Commissioner ruled that Amber Rudd’s department is in breach of the Freedom of Information Act, ha ...
2nd October 2017Citizens’ rights: update after fourth round of Brexit negotiations
The fourth round of Brexit negotiations are over, with some signs of progress on the future status of EU citizens living in the UK. At the end of August, the EU-UK joint comparison of negotiating positions on citizens’ rights showed some 30 iss ...
28th September 2017Immigration judge “wholly failing to meet standards”, Upper Tribunal finds
Three judges of the Upper Tribunal have examined 13 separate decisions of the same First-tier Tribunal judge and found them “wholly failing to meet the standards that are demanded by the office of a judge and expected by the parties”. The ...
27th September 2017Home Office offers dubious assurances on fingerprints and ID cards for EU citizens
Campaign group the3million has issued a statement on the latest plans for settled status following a meeting with the Home Office. Some clarifications were made during a meeting between the Home Office and the3million regarding some false informatio ...
26th September 2017What does Theresa May’s Florence speech mean for EU citizens?
Theresa May exercised her free movement rights with a trip to Florence on Friday to deliver a much-anticipated speech on Brexit. Conciliatory in tone and significant on the question of the ‘divorce bill’, the Prime Minister’s commen ...
26th September 2017