Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #101

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! 

I hope that you managed to have a bit of break over the holidays and are feeling well rested and ready for the many challenges that we already know 2026 will have in store, both for migrants and for those of us working to support them. 

Regulations laid just before the break have brought some provisions of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act into force today, including the ability to take people’s mobile phones from them when they arrive in the UK. This seems likely to make it more difficult for people to access and provide evidence for their asylum claim, as well as creating barriers to maintaining contact with family. Access to legal representatives will need to be facilitated somehow. I will write up a short post on the regulations as a whole a.s.a.p. but I have looked at these powers in a bit more detail here.

In other news, Home Office oral questions take place at 2.30pm today in the House of Commons. And as spotted by the Law Gazette, there has been an increase to the solicitors’ guidelines hourly rates effective 1 January 2026.

On Free Movement, we have had a few case write ups since the last newsletter. This includes an interesting one for students to be aware of, where a university was held to have acted unlawfully after refusing to reinstate a student’s sponsorship which was withdrawn following delays in the processing of tuition payments made via a third party. 

We also had a post on the High Court finding safeguarding failures at Brook House and this one on a costs decision from the Court of Appeal in a visit visa delay case, containing an important reminder about the need to comply with the pre action protocol in full. There was also a look at recent updates to the CPIN for Pakistan on asylum claims based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

There was quite the case dump by the courts just before the break, so we will be working to catch you up on all of those over the next couple of weeks. For everything else on Free Movement and elsewhere, read on. 

Cheers, Sonia

What we’re reading

The chaotic life of an immigration lawyer in Trump’s America: ‘Some days you break down in tears’ – The Guardian, 17 December

Hundreds of foreign prison staff ‘offered emergency extension to visa’ to stop the prison system collapsing – Sky News, 20 December

UK asylum seekers not widely abusing modern slavery rules, report finds – The Guardian, 21 December

UK restricts DR Congo visas over migrant return policy – BBC News, 27 December

Friday briefing: How the Home Office denied ​a British-born ​m​an his citizenship for 15 years – The Guardian, 2 January

European human rights court questions UK decision to strip Shamima Begum of citizenship – The Guardian, 31 December

First asylum seekers expected to arrive in East Sussex barracks in new year – The Guardian, 22 December

Crowborough Residents Launch Legal Challenge to “Secret” Asylum Camp Decision – DPG Law, 16 December

Six UK immigration officers charged with money laundering offences – The Guardian, 23 December