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.

The Migration Advisory Committee has recommended that the shortage occupation list is abolished and that people in the asylum system with permission to work are allowed to work in any role. These are some of the recommendations in the full review of the shortage occupation list, published yesterday. The committee...

4th October 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

Back in “Small Boats Week” during the summer, the government announced the tripling of employer penalties for illegal workers to £45,000 per worker. The immigration minister said that the increase was necessary because “making it harder for illegal migrants to work and operate in the UK is vital to deterring...

27th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

Last year 1,334 people came to the UK and claimed asylum based on their sexual orientation, amounting to 2% of all asylum claims. A lot of them are probably feeling quite frightened this morning after the Home Secretary has chosen to single them out for attack, as being undeserving of...

26th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

Staff working at Brook House immigration removal centre were verbally and physically abusive towards the people who were detained, including the use of extremely racist language. There were 19 incidents of inhuman and degrading treatment of people at a single removal centre over a period of just five months. That...

20th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The government has published the new application fees previously announced earlier this year. The statement describes the increase as being made “to pay for vital services and allow more funding to be prioritised for public sector pay rises”. The explanatory memorandum provides a bit more detail: “an increase of 15-20%...

18th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The most recent Border Force People Survey reveals “a dissatisfied workforce which is a breeding ground for insider risk to grow and become insider acts, enabled by privileged access”. That is according to a new report from the Independent Chief Inspector for Borders and Immigration that looks at how internal...

18th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

In what seems to be a prelude to the introduction of the use of ionising radiation (x-rays) for non-medical reasons on children, the government has published the Justification Decision (Scientific Age Imaging) Regulations 2023. There is also a draft explanatory memorandum containing a statement by the Secretary of State for...

14th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Secretary of State will reduce judicial oversight of detention and increase her detention powers when more of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 comes into force on 28 September 2023. Those and other changes set out in the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2023, published last night,...

12th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

A new statement of changes has been published along with the explanatory memorandum and a written statement from the immigration minister. The biggest change is the removal of administrative review from decisions made under the EU Settlement Scheme. Many of the changes are minor technical or drafting changes. It is...

7th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Office may no longer be able to meet the rules it currently relies on to use the international aid budget to support people in their first year in the UK if the government brings more of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 into force. This is according to a...

6th September 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan
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