Author: Sonia Lenegan

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Sonia Lenegan

Sonia Lenegan is an experienced immigration, asylum and public law solicitor. She has been practising for over ten years and was previously legal director at the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association and legal and policy director at Rainbow Migration. Sonia is the Editor of Free Movement.

This post has been updated with the latest developments on Thursday including the Home Office announcement on detentions and publication of the caseworker guidance applicable to those applying to come to the UK. Applications have also opened for people to submit an expression of interest to come to the UK....

7th August 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The High Court has dismissed a judicial review challenging the Home Secretary’s failure to implement the recommendations of the Brook House inquiry. The judgment includes a useful annex addressing an application made by the Home Secretary for an order preventing the claimants from relying on material subject to parliamentary privilege....

5th August 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

A Palestinian family, including children aged nine and seven, have succeeded in a judicial review challenging the UK’s failure to provide them with consular assistance to get them out of Gaza so that they can register their biometrics and come to the UK to join family. The case is R...

30th July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

A student and her husband have successfully challenged the Home Office’s decision to cancel their leave, with the result that their detention was also held to be unlawful. The case is R (Manpreet Kaur & Anor) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 1942 (Admin). Background...

28th July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Bar Standards Board has dismissed a barrister’s appeal against disbarment, stating that “findings of professional misconduct, including dishonesty, and the sanction of disbarment imposed by the Tribunal were appropriate and correctly applied”. The case is Dean v The Bar Standards Board (BSB) [2025] EWHC 1860 (Admin). Background The Bar...

22nd July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Upper Tribunal has held that a Home Office interview, which took place in prison and in which the applicant provided answers demonstrating that she wanted to remain in the UK based on her private and family life, amounted to a human rights claim. The tribunal separately held that the...

17th July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

In a new reported decision the Upper Tribunal has set out when new evidence can be considered in an administrative review. The tribunal also said that the evidential flexibility guidance is now so different to that considered by the Court of Appeal in Mudiyanselage v Secretary of State for the...

16th July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

Earlier today the High Court handed down a judgment discharging a super-injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence on 1 September 2023. Following on from this, five previously private judgments have also been published, four by the High Court and one from the Court of Appeal. The case is Ministry...

15th July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The High Court has ordered the Defence Secretary to publish caseworker guidance on the Triples review, which is reassessing eligibility decisions of certain applications made under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy after several issues were identified with the initial decision making process. The case is R (TPL1) v Secretary...

11th July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Secretary has successfully appealed a tribunal decision that when calculating the ten year period of continuity of residence for the purposes of deportation of an EEA national, time spent as the non-EEA national family member can be included. The case is Secretary of State for the Home Department...

10th July 2025
BY Sonia Lenegan
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