In the context of British nationality law, EEA citizens residing in the UK from 2 October 2000 continue to not meet the definition of “settled”, unless they held indefinite leave to remain or had acquired permanent residence. This was confirmed last week by the Court of Appeal in R (on...
Employers who sponsor migrant workers must comply with a number of sponsor duties to avoid breaching the conditions of their licence. Last year, effective from March 2023, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) announced that it expected sponsors to report hybrid and remote working patterns. Given that many employers allow flexibility...
The government continues to try to maintain its ability to redact the names of junior civil servants in judicial review proceedings and the courts continue to tell them that they cannot do this. The latest instalment is MTA, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home...
Closing Date: Sunday 31st March 2024 Hours: 37.5 per week Salary: £26,000 – £29,000 per annum Location: Coventry About the Role As the Immigration Caseworker, you will manage a caseload of clients. You will work closely with other members of the Legal branch to offer the best advice and service to...
Immigration Law Training We offer a huge range of immigration law training courses for solicitors, barristers, OISC advisers and others of all levels of experience. We’ve been going since 2007 and with 4,000 active members and over 30,000 email subscribers to our weekly newsletter we’re the immigration advice sector’s preferred...
An appellant did not act dishonestly when he applied for British citizenship and answered ‘no’ when asked whether there was anything that might cast into doubt his good character. This was despite him being arrested four weeks after citizenship was granted and later pleading guilty to an offence that took...
As previously advised, today a statement of changes and explanatory memorandum to the immigration rules was published to bring in the income threshold increases for both skilled worker and Appendix FM partner routes. The immigration minister made a statement summarising the changes relating to the skilled worker, Appendix FM partner,...
British Red Cross have published a new report on the lack of legal aid assistance available to people in the immigration and asylum system, following a UK wide review of the sector’s capacity to assist with asylum questionnaires and immigration matters. In July 2023 251 firms were contacted in Scotland,...
The latest tribunal quarterly statistics show a very sharp increase in the number of asylum appeals lodged in the First-tier Tribunal in the period October to December 2023. This is due to the considerable increase in the number of Home Office asylum decisions during that time. Waiting times for asylum...
The Home Office has updated its “Allocation of asylum accommodation” guidance so that a list of people who were previously excluded from the Bibby Stockholm, Napier and the other ex-Ministry of Defence sites and from having to share a bedroom, can now be accommodated in these places. The euphemism being...
Legal reform charity JUSTICE has published a report today from their EUSS working group that looks at the ongoing problems with the EU settlement scheme and makes 16 recommendations. The report commends the scheme as being largely successful and for processing a huge number of applications in a relatively short...
The High Court has dismissed and certified as totally without merit an appeal brought by an immigration solicitor against the decision to strike him off the roll, after finding him guilty of dishonest conduct in his dealings with an undercover journalist in 2017. The case is Salam v Solicitors Regulation...
As the government’s Rwanda plan continues to court controversy, there is one area of their policy which by their measures could be seen to be succeeding: their efforts to stop Albanians from seeking refuge in the UK. Since 2019, the Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit at Islington Law Centre...
Closing Date: 25 March 2024 at 23:00 Hours: Full time Location: The position is based at UNHCR London ‘s offices near Chancery Lane Starting Salary: London – £43,440 – £59,000 depending on education and experience. Not subject to income tax but subject to NI deductions. Nature of Position: Under the...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! Apparently since 7 October 2023 every entry clearance application made from Gaza has been rejected by the Home Office. That was the position up to the date of disclosure in this judicial review by a Palestinian refugee trying to bring his family to the UK, and there is no reason to...
Home Training OISC Level 1 training Our entry-level OISC Level 1 immigration law training courses are ideal for aspiring advisers seeking accreditation and for other budding immigration lawyers. We cover everything you need to know to get started in immigration law and get accredited with the OISC: how immigration law...
Three months after first announcing it, the Home Secretary has officially asked the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a review of the Graduate immigration route. The letter from the Home Secretary to the Chair of the committee said that the review may cover the following areas: As we have...
This was the central question which arose in the context of an unlawful detention claim, initially dismissed by the High Court in Johnson v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3120 (KB) and then again in the recently reported appeal in Johnson v Secretary of State for...
On the same day that The Bureau of Investigative Journalism published an article on how the visa system prevents care workers from reporting abuse, a new report by several academics and NGOs has been published “UK agriculture and care visas: worker exploitation and obstacles to redress”. The report looks at...
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...
Past webinars Missed one of our live webinars and need to catch up? Several weeks after the original event, we release selected recordings of previous webinars which we make available for purchase for the same cost as the original. We omit the final Q&A with the trainer from recorded versions....
A guidance change made in July 2023 is affecting the ability of the new-born babies of refugees to obtain refugee status. This is an issue that affects a limited group of people, namely those who have been granted refugee leave for five years, and have a child born in the...
Our monthly update course is available to Free Movement members. It is based on the articles we’ve published over the last month and on our immigration law update podcast. If you are not already a member, you can join here and access not just this course but all of our courses. Membership...
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....
Closing Date: 24 March 2024 Contract: Permanent – Job share Hours: 21 hours per week Location: Any centre – London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle Starting Salary: London – £66,461 – £77,095 per annum including London Weighting (21 hours £39,876 – £46,257) Outside London £62,446 – £72,437 per annum (21 hours £37,467 – £43,462) Expected Date of Interviews: […]
...This is another successful challenge from a former Afghan judge who was unlawfully excluded from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme (ARAP). The case is MP1, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Defence [2024] EWHC 410 (Admin). Background MP1 worked as a criminal defence lawyer...
This is our write up of the first of the Home Secretary’s recent dump of the much delayed reports from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. The one point I will make from the outset is that anyone who is working on Albanian claims should read the relevant...
CLOSING DATE: 2ND APRIL 2024 £33,000 – £36,000 (pro-rata) depending on qualifications + 6% pension Pay grades: OISC level 2 – £33k, OISC level 3/solicitor – £36k Contract: Permanent, 35 hours/week (applications from those seeking part-time working will be considered) LRMN is looking for enthusiastic and passionate immigration advisors accredited to OISC Level 2 or above […]
...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...
Kalayaan, a small but mighty charity that works to provide advice, advocacy and support services in the UK for migrant domestic workers have recently updated their 2023 report on the state of the system for identifying victims of modern slavery, with 2024’s National Referral Mechanism: Near Breaking Point. The particular...
In FGF v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Appeal No: SN/01/2022 the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has concluded that it has the power to award costs in reviews, in certain circumstances. Background FGF applied for naturalisation as a British citizen on 27 January 2020. The Home Secretary refused...
A few days before the two-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK government announced a series of sweeping changes to the Ukraine schemes, giving just four hours’ notice of their implementation. Among the most significant changes are the closure of the Ukraine Family Scheme, and a new...
Rainbow Migration, the longest-running charity in Europe dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system, is recruiting a Legal Officer to advise and help improve the representation of LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum, and help change the asylum and immigration system to one that treats everyone with compassion,...
Following a request from the Chairs of the Public Accounts and Home Affairs Committees, the National Audit Office has published a report on the costs to date of setting up the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda. The report also looks at the basis on which future costs would...
The latest immigration and asylum statistics have been published today. We have highlighted some of the interesting data below on asylum, EU Settlement Scheme, fee waivers and student and work routes. Page contentsAsylumInadmissibilityHomelessness of refugeesLarge drop in attendance by Home Office presenting officers at asylum appealsFee waiversEU Settlement SchemeStudentsWorkConclusion Asylum...
The Court of Appeal has gone to town on a First-tier Tribunal decision for the second time in as many weeks, this time allowing an appeal in an asylum claim from an Iranian national. The case is FA (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ...
Vacancies: Paralegals/ Caseworkers We are looking to take on up to four immigration paralegals/caseworkers to join the fee earning team at Luqmani Thompson. This offer is for a fixed 12-month contract and is subject to a 3-month probationary period. The role is office based. We offer a competitive salary (£23,000...
The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that the Home Secretary’s “Discretionary Leave” guidance, version 10, published on 16 March 2023 is unlawful to the extent that it excludes victims of trafficking who had been accepted by the Home Office to be a victim before 30 January 2023 and had, before that...
Last week we published a briefing on the legal changes to the criminalisation of people seeking asylum in the UK and a new report “No Such Thing as Justice Here” looks at the impact these changes have had in practice. The report is published by the Centre for Criminology at the...
