Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #102

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! 

Last week UNHCR published their legal observations on the government’s proposed changes to asylum. The agency said that the proposal to grant refugees only two and a half years’ leave at a time is likely to be detrimental to their “sense of security, belonging and stability”. It was also pointed out that the need for additional status reviews will likely “impose overwhelming and unnecessary financial and administrative burden on the Home Office”. Mention was made of Australia having abandoned a similar idea back in 2023 with costs there estimated to be $300 million, and it was also pointed out that cases that are refused can appeal and because of cuts to legal aid these cases “consume a great deal of time of the court staff, government lawyers, and judges”. That all sounds rather familiar.

The transcript from last week’s Home Office questions is out, with some non-answers in there on earned settlement, and this rather infuriating assertion by the minister that the consultation document is “very clear” (it most certainly is not, as every immigration lawyer trying to advise frantic clients at the moment can attest to). Also in parliament last week, the Committee of Public Accounts published a report which included a section on legal aid recommendations and last year’s cyberattack. 

There are some interesting comments in there on the remote provision of advice. The committee highlighted the fact that while the department has acknowledged that remote advice is not appropriate for everyone, the Ministry of Justice has not set out clearly what the alternative options are for people unable to access remote advice, nor how it plans to improve its understanding of the impacts that remote provision has on different groups.

Earth Refuge are running an interactive online workshop on the increasingly important issue of legal rights and climate migration on Tuesday 20 January, details for that are here.

On Free Movement last week, Colin wrote his review of 2025 and look ahead to 2026. There was an important update for refugees facing street homelessness because of the short move-on period – extensions may be possible but this is due to end on 16 January. We also had this interesting update on a civil penalites case that is ongoing in the Court of Appeal and a deportation case that was unsuccessful there.

Finally, Free Movement is recruiting for an Editorial Assistant, please do read, apply, and share. For everything else on Free Movement and elsewhere, read on. 

Cheers, Sonia

What we’re reading

Two-thirds of UK voters wrongly think immigration is rising, poll finds – The Guardian, 10 January

UK visa applications down by over 100,000 amid stricter immigration rules – The Standard, 9 January

Home Office to start evicting asylum seekers from hotels this spring – LBC, 10 January

Home Office tells Gaza academic his bid to bring family to UK not urgent – The Guardian, 9 January

Windrush victim ‘hospitalised’ over stress of compensation battle with Home Office – Independent, 6 January

British Woman Left ‘Stranded’ in Hungary After Home Office Refuse to Let Her Bring Niece to the UK – Byline Times, 8 January

Labour’s asylum appeals overhaul: what the new system means in practice – UK in a Changing Europe, 7 January

First flight of 2026 under UK ‘one in, one out’ asylum scheme cancelled – The Guardian, 7 January

Convictions following EU Treaty Rights immigration scam – Immigration Advice Authority, 7 January