As trailed previously, a statement of changes has been published today removing the rights of care workers to bring dependants to the UK. What was not mentioned in advance was that this statement of changes would also close the Ukraine Family Scheme with immediate effect (from 3pm 19 February 2024),...
Since 31 January 2024, victims of transnational marriage abandonment can apply for a visa to return to the UK. This follows the landmark case of R on the application of AM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 2591 (Admin). This post looks at how to make...
The Home Office has made changes to the Destitute Domestic Violence Concession by publishing new guidance and a new application form today. There is a new acronym for practitioners to learn as the concession has been re-branded as the Migrant Victims of Domestic Abuse Concession (MVDAC). The big change is...
Domestic violence is a serious infringement of someone’s rights. While most often perpetrated against women, it can affect people from any background and part of society. Migrants can be particularly vulnerable and unwilling to seek help because of their precarious status in the UK. This article looks at in country...
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...
Naturalisation is the legal process by which a non-British adult becomes a British citizen. An application has to be made to the Home Office and if the criteria set out in the British Nationality Act 1981 are met then the application will be granted and the person can attend a...
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...
On 7 December 2023, the Government announced changes to the immigration rules relating to visitors with a new statement of changes. In short, the changes have created some flexibility to the permitted work-related activities that visitors can undertake and are primarily aimed at those conducting business in the UK. While...
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...
“This is a very dark day for many families who will be unable to meet the … new income requirement” commented Sonia on the day the Home Secretary announced that the minimum income requirement for partners under Appendix FM was going to be raised. Her view is shared by many immigration...
Appendix Children was published in October 2023 and consolidates most of the rules for child dependents of parents on points-based immigration routes which were previously spread out across the individual categories. It also covers children applying in their own right in points-based categories that allow for that, such as the...
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 “no recourse to public funds” condition is imposed on grants of limited leave to enter or remain with the effect of prohibiting the person holding that leave from accessing certain defined public funds, set out at paragraph 6 of the immigration rules. A person who deliberately claims public funds despite such...
This week, the Supreme Court brought us the (hopefully) final instalment of the long residence cases, R (Afzal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 46. Immigration lawyers have followed the long series in this line of cases the way we followed Game of Thrones: they both...
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...
At the time the British Nationality Act 1981 came into force, two other existing forms of British nationality status were preserved. Page contentsBritish subjectsBritish Protected PersonsBritish Nationals (Overseas) British subjects The first was British subject status. Those who had been British subjects without citizenship under the British Nationality Act 1948...
Significantly, a considerable number of British subjects who were then living in the United Kingdom free from residence conditions were excluded from automatic acquisition of patrial status. Page contentsAutomatic acquisition of indefinite leave to remainAutomatic acquisition of limited leave to remainExcluded from statusLong term consequences Automatic acquisition of indefinite leave...
The unification of control regimes and the controversy surrounding imposition of full immigration control on British subjects led to a significant improvement in the transparency of immigration law. In turn, this made it feasible to challenge the exercise of immigration powers in the courts in a way that was difficult...
One of the manifesto commitments of the incoming Conservative government of 1970 was to establish “a single system of control over all immigration from overseas”. This was a genuinely radical proposition, although one to which the modern reader is inured. To treat British subjects and aliens in an identical way...
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...
The outbreak of war led to imposition of far more extensive regulation of movement in and out of the country. Even in wartime, though, the level of regulation was notably less than modern immigration control. Indeed, the wartime controls were noticeably less complete than those eventually settled upon during the...
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 is the second in our series of blog posts on how to become an OISC adviser and we are writing this as we publish our new OISC Level 2 Accreditation online course, available only to members. Our first post covered what you need to do to register at level...
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...
A new report comes with a stark warning: “As the number of sponsored migrant workers rises every quarter, the issue of migrant labour exploitation is only likely to increase”. Work Rights Centre, a charity that works to support migrants and disadvantaged British residents access employment justice, has today published their...
The Home Office has changed the immigration rules and the guidance on making applications to the EU Settlement Scheme, taking a far more restrictive approach to late applications than has been the case previously. The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) has updated its guidance to reflect these changes...
