The First-tier Tribunal now has a new set of procedure rules: the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) Rules 2014, which came into force on 20 October 2014. The Rules are streamlined in some parts and the overriding objective is modified to emphasise fairness and justice more than...
Comes into force today. Clarifies that Tier 4 students on post graduate courses of 12 months or longer can sponsor family member dependants. TB screening introduced for those entering from Mauritania for over 6 months and TB screening only required for those entering for settlement from China, Hong Kong and Macau.
...Theresa May announced substantive changes to the immigration rules, which would limit the number of immigrants entering the UK on the basis of marriage or having family members here. Some of the changes, coming into force on the 9th July 2012, were covered by Samina Iqbal and Nishan Paramjorthy, at the...
The second part of a challenge to the family reunion rules that exclude child refugees from bringing their family to the UK has been dismissed by the High Court. The case is R (DM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees intervening) [2024]...
As I predicted earlier today, the Lord Chancellor has today laid The Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (Amendment) Rules 2024 before Parliament. Ominously, these rules are to come into force “immediately after the coming into force of section 2 (duty to make arrangements for removal) of the...
As indicated in the recent consultation response, the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has now published the new code of standards. It is a criminal offence to give immigration advice unless you are properly regulated and for those who are not practicing solicitors, barristers or Chartered Legal Executives, that usually...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! “Election vanity scam” (as coined by someone who seemingly works for the Home Office) is probably the most accurate description of the Rwanda plan at this point. As I have said before, best case scenario for the government surely has to be that any...
During judicial review proceedings it has been disclosed that around 80 children were evacuated from Afghanistan and separated from their families and a new route is to be put in place to facilitate the reunion of these families shortly. The case is R (HR & Ors) v Secretary of State...
In recent months two cohorts of young people, those granted ‘Calais leave’ and those granted leave under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, have begun to reach the end of five years’ limited leave to remain. The immigration rules currently provide a route to either further limited leave or...
This week the Sentencing Council published new draft sentencing guidelines for immigration offences within the Immigration Act 1971 and Identity Documents Act 2010. This includes offences expanded by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. Previously, there had been no formal guidelines for these offences. The draft guidelines have been published...
Your February roundup is here as promised. Colin and I discuss Shamima Begum’s latest appeal, the pause on some asylum cases, a run of decisions involving poor conduct on the part of either the Tribunals or the Home Office, as well as corporate transactions, the sudden closure of the Ukraine...
This month Sonia and Colin cover Shamima Begum’s latest appeal, the pause on some asylum cases, a run of decisions involving poor conduct on the part of either the Tribunals or the Home Office, as well as corporate transactions, the sudden closure of the Ukraine Family scheme and much more....
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! It was Frantic Maths Day on Thursday and while in the midst of it all I went to look at my write up of the last statistics release from November last year. It was quite a jolt to see that I had written there that two people had...
Colin and I have rounded up January 2024. We cover the government’s claims to have cleared the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog and look at the three backlogs that have replaced it. We discuss the latest in an increasingly long list of cases in which the Home Office has behaved poorly. Also...
This month Sonia and Colin cover the government’s claims to have cleared the ‘legacy’ asylum backlog and look at the three backlogs that have replaced it. They discuss gender-based asylum claims, the new rules for business visitors and care homes who have lost and managed to keep their sponsor licences....
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! I was pleased to see one of the three new asylum backlogs get some media coverage at the weekend. I have been baffled as to why the government created this situation ever since the Illegal Migration Act was first published in July last year. Essentially, they seem to have...
The Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) is a fee levied on the majority of UK visa applications. The Immigration Health Surcharge is on top of other Home Office immigration fees and designed to land in a different government pocket. Also sometimes known as the NHS surcharge, it essentially adds £1,035 per...
The Home Office has introduced some flexibility for some people who are applying late to the EU Settlement Scheme, after the rules were severely tightened in August last year. The new version 22 of the guidance for caseworkers on the EU Settlement Scheme applies to decisions made from 16 January...
The Home Secretary has commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a rapid review of the new immigration salary list, which will be the new name for the shortage occupation list. This follows the committee’s previous recommendation that the list be abolished and the government’s subsequent commitment to reform...
In our December 2023 round up, Colin and Sonia discuss the latest developments with Home Office evictions and withdrawals, as well as the new Rwanda legislation. We also cover the government’s five point plan to reduce net migration as well as the latest case law and Tribunal statistics. If you...
The latest statistics from the Home Office break down the “flow” backlog (i.e. asylum claims made on or after 28 June 2022) into three separate groups. It is important to understand the different ways that they are treated, all of which involve the inadmissibility process in some way. Taking them...
A “returning resident” is a resident of the United Kingdom with settled status who returns to the country after a lengthy absence abroad. Ordinarily, when a person refers to “returning residents” they might be talking about a temporary resident who leaves for a short time, for example on holiday or...
This month Sonia and Colin discuss the latest developments with the Home Office evictions and withdrawals, as well as the new Rwanda legislation. They also cover the government’s five point plan to reduce net migration as well as the latest case law and Tribunal statistics. If you would like to...
With the news that the immigration health surcharge will be going up dramatically, potentially in the next few weeks, it makes sense for people already in the UK or looking to move here soon to look at whether an early application is possible. As a reminder, the increase is from...
Need or want to learn immigration law with an OISC Level 1 training course? Planning to sit the OISC level 1 exams? Prefer to learn in a small group? We have the perfect course for you. Our approach to OISC Level 1 training is to offer ‘guided learning’. Trainees study...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! I was away last week so this is very much an exercise in catching myself up, as well as all of you. It seems that quite a lot happened, and so in absolutely no particular order (apart from doing Rwanda last because I just...
Reunite Families UK, a lived experience organisation, have published a timely new report looking at the negative mental health impact of family separation caused by the immigration rules, particularly the minimum income requirement. The research looks at the current position, which is shortly to become considerably worse when the increase...
This article provides an overview of some of the safeguards available for those who are held in immigration detention, focussing particularly on those who have been victims of torture. These safeguards are all the more important following the expansion of detention powers under section 12 of the Illegal Migration Act....
Our new OISC Level 2 course: immigration and asylum online training is now live and available to all Free Movement members. It covers the whole of the OISC immigration and asylum syllabuses and is perfect for anyone relatively new to the immigration sector who wants to take their knowledge of immigration law...
A new statement of changes has been laid today. Most of the changes relate to the EU Settlement Scheme and travel document requirements for school groups visiting the UK from France. There are also three new appendices (taking us up to 81 separate appendices to the immigration rules), Appendix Bereaved...
On Monday the new Home Secretary presented a “five-point plan” to reduce UK immigration after a feverish fortnight of the right of the Conservative party, most of the opposition, plus every news outlet badgering him about the Office for National Statistics revising its estimate of 2022’s net migration up to...
The Immigration Act 1988 arguably represents the end of the period of imposing ever greater restrictions on the arrival of racialised Commonwealth citizens while simultaneously liberalising the admission of white aliens. It extended the fundamentally exclusionary purposes of the 1971 and 1981 legislation. It is not that future legislation was...
The Immigration Act 1971 remains the foundation of immigration control today. Much of the Immigration Act 1971 was effectively a consolidation of powers already conferred on the government by existing immigration legislation, albeit that aliens were at that time subject to far more regulation than British subjects. The standout features...
The Immigration Appeals Act 1969 is a little-remembered piece of legislation, overshadowed as it is by the racist intent of the predecessor Commonwealth Immigrants Acts and the sheer durability of the successor Immigration Act 1971. Nevertheless, it was an important piece of legislation at the time and a major if...
Our October immigration round up is here and as we recorded shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision in the Rwanda litigation we included discussion of that at the beginning. Do keep listening after that though, as Colin and I cover everything from fishing to legal aid shortages via eSports, medico-legal...
This month Sonia and Colin discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in the Rwanda litigation. As well as that, they cover everything from fishing to eSports, legal aid shortages, medico-legal reports, public funds and the shortage occupation list. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and...
The “sole responsibility” immigration test comes into play where one of the parents of a child is relocating to the United Kingdom and one parent remains abroad. The United Kingdom’s immigration rules effectively presume that a child should remain outside the country with the other parent, unless the parent moving...
The immigration rules allow people to apply to remain in the UK on the basis of long residence. Those here lawfully can apply for indefinite leave to remain following 10 years’ continuous lawful residence in the UK. Those who had periods of overstaying can apply for limited leave to remain...
