Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! David Bolt, the interim Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, recentlly published an update on the team’s work. There are two reports currently with the Home Secretary awaiting publication, those are the Country of Origin information report on Rwanda which was sent to her on 16...
The Home Office has confirmed via a notification on the sponsorship management system that some salary going rates (i.e. the salary requirements specific to those occupations eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route) included in March 2024 statement of changes to the immigration rules HC 590 were incorrectly stated...
Head of Casework Organisation: Manuel Bravo Project Job Title: Head of Casework Salary: NJC Pay Scale point 38 – £47,858.00 per annum (37.5 hours full time) Hours: Full time – 37.5 hours per week Location: Leeds (Mix of in office and remote working) Deadline for receipt of […]
...The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has published its annual report summarising the department’s activities over the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. All 21 inspection reports published during this period were submitted by the previous inspector David Neal, who was in post until 20 February...
Anecdotal evidence of a recent increase in Afghan asylum refusals, along with publication of two updated country policy and information notes suggests that the Home Office has changed its approach to those who have come to the UK from Afghanistan and sought protection. Background I wrote previously about the history...
A year after the Brook House Inquiry published its report, the Independent Monitoring Board has published its annual report on the Gatwick detention centres (Brook House and Tinsley House) finding that safety has deteriorated in the past year. The report noted “a substantial increase in violence across both centres in...
The Commissioner of the British Indian Ocean Territory has unsuccessfully appealed a grant of bail allowing the small group of people seeking asylum on Diego Garcia to access certain parts of the island. The case is The Commissioner v The King (on the application of VT & Ors) (No. 3)...
Often corporate immigration advice can feel as though it boils down to Skilled Worker applications and little else. In amongst that “little else” is the UK Expansion Worker route, which came in to replace the sole representative route. We already have a briefing on how to apply under this route and...
Vacancies for a full-time paralegal Wesley Gryk Solicitors LLP is a niche private immigration and nationality practice, rated Band 1 by both Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. We are seeking to appoint a paralegal to support the solicitors at the firm with their active caseloads involving a full...
A challenge to the lack of legal aid for young people who have turned 18 since first claiming asylum to have a legal representative attend their asylum interview has been dismissed by the High Court. The case is R (Alhasan) v Director of Legal Aid Casework & Anor [2024] EWHC...
Anyone whose life consists of daily references to the immigration rules will tell you that the experience can feel a lot like deep ocean exploration in the Mariana Trench: despite constant research, you will still make new discoveries, even when you think there are no further depths to which you...
The latest quarterly statistics show little movement on the asylum backlog, which was to be expected given the Home Office was not making many decisions due to the Illegal Migration Act. Following restrictions to the ability of people to bring their immediate family to the UK with them, we have...
The Upper Tribunal has said that where family life exists, the article 8 rights of family members overseas need to be taken into account and it is wrong to focus only on the rights of the UK based sponsor. Following on from that, the refusal to grant entry clearance to...
One day ahead of the next quarterly asylum statistics release, the Home Secretary has announced “New measures to boost Britain’s border security”. These new measures include: Increasing detention makes no sense given that most people are released back into the community and we know that detention actively causes serious harm...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! I noticed what appears to be an interesting change of framing on eVisas last week. A written question for the Home Office on the roll out of the new system was answered in a way that seems to downplay the importance of the...
The Home Office has updated its guidance on Ceasing asylum support following a recent decision by the Asylum Support Tribunal, to explicitly allow a right of appeal against the decision to cease support where the asylum claim has been withdrawn. The new section is on page 8: In light of...
The latest modern slavery statistics show that the record low grant rate noted in the previous update have continued in the period April to June 2024, with positive decisions made by the immigration enforcement competent authority at around 20% for both stages of the trafficking identification process. Background: how does...
You’ve left extending your visa until the last minute and are now in danger of missing the deadline. Does this matter and is there anything you can do about it? The answer to the first question is a resounding yes. Fortunately, in most cases, the answer to the second question...
People from Commonwealth countries often ask whether they can get a British visa on the basis of their country’s historical ties to the UK. The answer is, generally speaking, “no”. But there is one route which is open only to, although not to all, Commonwealth nationals: the UK Ancestry visa....
The Upper Tribunal has held that the Home Office guidance on Zambrano carers is wrong to require decision makers to assess whether a person may be able to make an application with a “realistic prospect” of succeeding under Appendix FM. This was the same conclusion reached by the High Court...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Over the weekend, another two people have died trying to cross the Channel from France to the UK. A family whose eldest daughter died in the attempt a couple of weeks ago explain why they will continue to try to make the crossing....
This post is for those working with children and young people from Sudan in refugee status determination and humanitarian protection. New country of origin information is available. The resource, published by the charity Asylos, aims to assist evidence-based decision-making. Situation for children and young people in Sudan In April 2023,...
The Home Office has been ordered to disclose data on the numbers of emergency travel documents issued for Eritrea and Somalia, and how long it took for those documents to be issued, after refusing to provide the information in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act...
It’s August and Colin is away on holiday so Sonia was joined by a very special guest, Barry O’Leary, for the July roundup. Sonia and Barry discussed the end of the Rwanda scheme and the resumed processing of asylum cases, things not to do when carrying out an asylum backlog...
As someone who is in the UK with leave to remain, I recently tried the new eVisa system for myself and thought it would be useful to share my experience. Biometric residence permits produced in the past few years have “31 December 2024” as the expiry date. This reflects the...
In what is surely a classic of the genre of the “Updates” section of Home Office web pages being entirely misleading, yesterday the Home Office changed its eVisa page to say that everyone with a biometrics residence permit can now apply for an eVisa. This change is described as “Updated...
The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission to dismiss an appeal against the deprivation of British citizenship of a man who travelled to Syria and fought with a group aligned to Al-Qaeda. The case is B4 v Secretary of State for the Home...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! It has been a week of terror for many after far-right racists have run riot across across the UK, culminating in the attempt to burn down two hotels where people who had come to the UK and asked us to protect them were living. The thugs are...
When does the risk of suicide on removal trigger the article 3 threshold? Tragically, the question surfaces more often than it should. Cases of this kind are notoriously difficult to win, but certainly not impossible. This post will offer practical tips to practitioners handling such a case. The case law...
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published two reviews as part of their ongoing work in the sector, one is a review of asylum legal services and the second a review of training records. These reviews contain some important points and should be read carefully by solicitors working in immigration and...
In the midst of time last year, it was announced that Tech Nation would cease operations on 31 March 2023, which we reported on here. Tech Nation is one of several ‘endorsing bodies’ that issue endorsements to individuals who are ‘exceptionally talented’ or ‘exceptionally promising’. Tech based applicants can apply...
As the third anniversary of the Operation Pitting flights loom, the Home Secretary has finally announced a scheme, Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme Pathway 1 Stage 2, that will allow for evacuated families to be reunited. Background In August 2021, the world watched in horror as the Taliban began to overwhelm...
In response to the judicial review claim R (MS) v SSHD AC-2024-LON-000866, the Home Secretary has admitted a practice of intentionally delaying claims for temporary permission to stay made by asylum seeking trafficking victims who were at the time earmarked for possible removal to Rwanda. The pause, which was not...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! For the third week in a row a person has died trying to cross the Channel to get to the UK. 23 people have lost their lives attempting that journey and there is a lot of this year left. Still nothing from the new government...
We have recently seen several cases where a person has received a ‘minded to curtail’ notice from the Home Office following the automatic extension of their permission under the EU Settlement Scheme. Below we look at what is happening in more detail and what people in this situation should do....
