Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #81

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! 

There are obviously a variety of reasons why the right wing press’ targeting of judges and putting them in danger of violence is problematic. One of those issues is how poor the journalists’ understanding is of their subject matter. I have written a couple of times now about the Palestinian family who have been turned into a political football. 

I have explained that the process they used to make their application was the one required by the Home Office. Yet why let the facts get in the way of a piece attacking an Upper Tribunal judge who made one of the decisions in that case, as the Mail on Sunday did yesterday (do not go find this and give them any clicks unless you are going to submit a complaint!). 

The piece again focussed on the fact that the family had applied under the Ukrainian scheme, before then also wrongly attributing the recent High Court decision in the family’s case against the Foreign Office to the same Upper Tribunal judge (the judgment was bizarrely referred to in the paper as the judge having a “public spat” with the Foreign Secretary). I would be embarrassed to publish an article that rife with errors, but perhaps I am being generous by assuming that inaccurate coverage of migration issues is based on a misunderstanding rather than deliberate misinformation.

There are plenty of Upper Tribunal judges out there making decisions that would delight the right. I have seen cases where evidence has been ignored and people returned to danger, yet balance is clearly not what they are after here. 

On Free Movement, we covered the new UK/France returns agreement with an explainer on the treaty, new appendix to the immigration rules and caseworker guidance. We have a lot more information about the part of the scheme that will bring people to the UK, including the expression of interest application form. The team at Refugee Legal Support also gave their perspective as an organisation working with people in northern France. 

Also last week, the July roundup podcast is out and there were a couple of appeals against SIAC decisions, one on deprivation and one on costs. Today we published a really useful explainer on how to change employer if someone is on a skilled worker visa.

For everything else on Free Movement and elsewhere, read on.

Cheers, Sonia

What we’re reading

“I feel betrayed by Britain”: Windrush scandal victim finally returns to UK after 27 years in Poland – The Voice, 8 August

Targeted by the right, Britain’s asylum hotels are places of fear and disorder. Bad political decisions made it so – The Guardian, 9 August

MPs issue plea over Gaza student visa delay – BBC News, 7 August

More countries added to UK’s ‘deport first’ scheme for foreign criminals – The Guardian, 10 August

‘The Home Office is forcing me to leave the UK and a job I love to go to a country I’ve never called home’ – The Independent, 10 August

Violent Channel smuggling gang’s French and UK network exposed by undercover BBC investigation – BBC News, 5 August

Delivery riders caught between algorithms and immigration raids – Open Democracy, 7 August

Courts service ‘covered up’ IT bug that caused evidence to go missing – BBC News, 8 August

International student levy could cost English universities £600m a year – The Guardian, 8 August

‘It’s about justice’: the couple pushing for legal aid for Windrush scandal claims – The Guardian, 7 August

London firms oppose UK immigration proposals, research finds – UK Tech News, 5 August

U.S. plans to ease human rights criticism of El Salvador, Israel, Russia – The Washington Post, 6 August