Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #99

Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! 

The best question that someone put to us at last week’s webinar on earned settlement was along the lines of how will the Home Office communicate to people that all of a sudden the rules have been changed on them and they are now on a much longer path to settlement? As I did casework over the weekend, and started to properly get to terms with the already significant changes that have been enacted through the expansion of Part Suitability to Appendix FM and in particular the implications for people with any period of overstaying in their past (and a big thank you to Alex Piletska for her excellent write up on those changes), I realised that the answer is almost certainly that the Home Office will do nothing to tell people directly. 

For the people who can afford lawyers, we get the trauma of having to explain to people over and over again that the government has upended their lives. For those who can’t access any advice – what happens? Presumably many will learn their fate only when they come to do the application form, assuming that the changes are even made clear at that point. 

Late knowledge of sudden ineligibility for settlement will itself have consequences – an unplanned for immigration health surcharge is not an expense that can easily be borne by many people. Extreme levels of cruelty aside, I really doubt that anyone at the Home Office fully realises how much chaos this is going to throw the system into. 

In other news, the first legal challenge has been launched in relation to the government’s plans to accommodate hundreds of people seeking asylum in a military camp in east Sussex. As has been the case with other challenges, this one is based on planning law.

On Free Movement, it’s a double shout out to Alex in this week’s newsletter, as she has written this excellent and detailed briefing on the practical implications of the earned settlement proposals. I referred to it a few times in last week’s webinar (which, if you missed out, will be available free for members here by the end of the week). I was not very impressed with the surprise statement of changes turning up on the day I had set aside to prepare for the talk, but it was thankfully a short one. 

Also on the blog, I covered the quarterly tribunal statistics where things continue to veer completely out of control, the latest podcast is out, and Chris Benn wrote up this Court of Appeal decision looking at derivative rights and self-employment. 

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

Cheers, Sonia

What we’re reading

On Politics: Inside Britain’s Asylum System – The LRB Podcast, 10 December

Can you dismiss a skilled worker who does not qualify for ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) when you thought they would? – Kingsley Napley, 10 December

‘It’s a breach of trust’: fear and frustration over countries’ push to return Syrians home – The Guardian, 10 December

In depth: A Christmas pay rise for legal aid lawyers – Law Gazette, 9 December

The fiscal impact of immigration in the UK – Migration Advisory Committee, 11 December

Planning for tomorrow. Lessons learned from the UK’s response to displacement from Ukraine – British Red Cross, 11 December

‘Not in our village’: asylum camp rumours prompt fear and night vigils in East Sussex – The Guardian, 11 December

UK plans add ‘new layer of cruelty’ for asylum seekers, expert warns – Open Democracy, 11 December

Public understanding and attitudes to irregular migration in the UK – I-Claim, November 2025

UK watchdog urged to probe GDPR failures in Home Office eVisa rollout – The Register, 12 December

Oxford report examines ten reasons to stay in the ECHR as UK public backs membership – University of Oxford, 10 December