Welcome to episode 103 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month — the first in something like five years flying solo — I’m starting with some material on asylum and trafficking then quickly going over a bit of immigration and nationality history and why it matters today, before...
Mr Justice Ian Dove has been appointed President of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal with effect from 2 October 2022. Whether this turns out to be a case of nominative determinism remains to be seen, but he is certainly considered to be an experienced public law...
The current/outgoing government on 22 June 2022 introduced to Parliament the Bill of Rights Bill. For those (like me) who have been struggling to keep up with the news of late, the legislation will, if it becomes law, scrap and entirely replace the Human Rights Act. The Bill of Rights...
In what I calculate to be the fifth Supreme Court case addressing the meaning of the words used in Theresa May’s 2014 reforms of deportation law, the justices have rejected three linked Home Office appeals seeking to reinstate deportation orders. The previous cases were, in reverse order, SC (Jamaica), Sanambar,...
This month we start with elements of the Borders Act 2022 coming into force before moving on to Appendix Private Life and Appendix FM. We then review the latest case law on criminal deportation, touch briefly on Zambrano applications, and conclude with Rwanda. The 29-minute podcast follows the running order...
Welcome to episode 102 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with elements of the Borders Act 2022 coming into force before moving on to Appendix Private Life and Appendix FM. We then review the latest case law on criminal deportation, touch briefly on Zambrano applications,...
Does exploiting a domestic worker through human trafficking and modern slavery constitute “exercising” a “commercial activity” for the purposes of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 such that it falls within the exception to a diplomat’s immunity from civil suit? When this arose several years ago in Al-Malki v...
MY (Pakistan) v SSHD [2021] EWCA Civ 1500 Free Movement write up October 2021 The Court of Appeal confirmed the Home Office does not need to address an Article 8-based human rights claim unless it is made using the specified form or process. In this case, there was no obligation...
Sanambar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 2 Free Movement write up July 2021 The Supreme Court outlined the correct approach in determining deportation appeals. There was a particular focus on integration and the criteria to follow when deporting young adults. It ultimately dismissed the appeal...
AB (Jamaica) v SSHD [2019] EWCA Civ 661 Free Movement mention April 2019 Section 117B(6) is a statutory requirement and so, regardless of whether the child will in practice leave the UK, the question of whether it is reasonable to expect the child to do so must still be asked....
Unuane v The United Kingdom (application no. 80343/17) Free Movement write up November 2020 The court unanimously found that the UK’s supposedly Article 8 compliant deportation rules don’t preclude judges from following the correct approach to assessing the proportionality of deportation, and that the Upper Tribunal had failed to do...
The provisions covering family life are mainly contained in two parts of the Immigration Rules: Appendix FM and Part 8. Part 8 pre-dates July 2012 – which is when Appendix FM came into force – and the two sets of provisions are structured differently. Part 8 covers children sponsored by...
The headnote for PB (“Cart” judicial reviews: “new” grounds) Sri Lanka [2022] UKUT 154 (IAC) seems to bear little relation to the facts or the reasons in the case: The Supreme Court in Cart v the Upper Tribunal [2011] UKSC 28; [2011] Imm AR 704 did not intend a judicial...
The Upper Tribunal has rejected a challenge to the Article 8 compliance of the “deport first, appeal later” system despite previously having ordered the Home Office to bring the claimant back to the UK to ensure he had an effective appeal. The case is R (Watson) (s. 94B process; s....
Asylum lawyers like me tend to focus on just one clause of the Refugee Convention: the definition of a refugee. This is the gateway to formal recognition as a refugee and is therefore of vital importance to any person seeking asylum. From this definition, set out at Article 1A(2) of...
The Supreme Court has allowed the appeal against the deportation of a Jamaican man who arrived in the UK aged ten. The case is SC (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] UKSC 15. The judgment covers the application of the concept of internal relocation to risk of...
Below is an unofficial partial transcript of the Court of Appeal’s judgment refusing interim relief (an injunction) in the case of Public and Commercial Services Union and Others v Secretary of State for the Home Department. This was one of two cases heard and decided today which sought to pause...
Families who can’t afford British citizenship for their children can now get it for free. A new “citizenship fee waiver for individuals under 18” policy was published today. It allows under-18s to apply to have the £1,012 fee on applications for registration as a British citizen waived. The policy applies...
Practitioners will no doubt be aware of the Supreme Court’s decision in AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 17. The justices endorsed the European Court of Human Rights decision in Paposhvili v Belgium (application no. 41738/10) and thereby materially lowered the threshold for resisting...
The signatories of the Refugee Convention thought that some people didn’t deserve protection on account of having committed particularly heinous crimes. They therefore introduced “exclusion clauses”, found at Article 1F of the Convention. Accordingly, The provisions of this Convention shall not apply to any person with respect to whom there...
In HA (expert evidence, mental health) Sri Lanka [2022] UKUT 111 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal considers whether the removal of a Sri Lankan man with mental health difficulties would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 3 prohibits inhumane and degrading treatment. Where a person’s mental...
My textbook on refugee law, imaginatively entitled Refugee Law, is published today. It is aimed principally at undergraduate and graduate students on refugee law courses, or related courses where students need to learn about refugee law and the protection of refugees. It will also be useful to lawyers and advisers...
For a UK immigration application to be considered at all, it must be valid. Whether an applicant meets the criteria is a moot point if this first, fundamental requirement isn’t met. Validity is a bit like oxygen: all things being well, it is invisible and unnoticeable. You only notice it...
Ali v The Home Office [2022] EWHC 866 (QB) is a successful appeal against the Central London County Court’s decision to dismiss the false imprisonment claim of a recognised Afghan refugee, detained for 98 days under the Detained Fast Track process in 2015. Larry has previously covered the County Court decision, which...
The government has announced a deal to export the UK’s responsibility to assess asylum claims and host refugees to Rwanda. Boris Johnson said in a speech that “anyone entering the UK illegally, as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1st, may now be relocated to Rwanda”. This...
Update: new fees apply from 4 October 2023, the details of those are here. The updated list of fees for immigration and nationality applications that apply from 6 April 2022 shows that most visas and extensions are up £15. Citizenship and sponsor licence rates are unchanged. Headline application fees had...
The Home Office has been ordered to make a decision in principle on an Afghan judge’s visa before making him come out of hiding to lodge a formal application. The case is R (JZ) v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs & Ors [2022] EWHC 771 (Admin)....
Where a foreign national criminal is sentenced to more than four years in prison they will only succeed in challenging deportation where they can demonstrate “very compelling circumstances”. Home Office guidance Unsurprisingly, Home Office guidance to caseworkers on deportation cases (Criminality: Article 8 ECHR cases) suggests that the meaning of this...
The second set of public interest considerations, set out at section 117(C), applies only in deportation cases involving “foreign criminals”. A foreign criminal is defined in section 117D(2) as a person who: (a) has been sentenced to a period of imprisonment of at least 12 months, (b) has been convicted...
Section 117B deals with public interest considerations applicable in all cases. It sets out the considerations that must be weighed against an individual’s Article 8 rights when courts are assessing the impact of removing someone who is in the UK without permission. The section 117B public interest considerations are: Practice...
Part 3 of the Act includes provisions relating to immigration offences and enforcement. Several of the changes make it almost impossible to claim asylum in the UK without first committing a criminal offence. It may surprise some that arriving in an unauthorised manner such as a small boat in order...
Article 31(1) of the Refugee Convention protects refugees from penalties for illegal entry or illegal presence: The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of...
Prior to the Nationality and Borders Act, it was generally unlawful for an asylum seeker to be removed from the United Kingdom while an asylum claim or asylum appeal was being pursued. This safeguard is removed by section 29 combined with Schedule 4 of the Act, which enable removal of an...
The power to take someone’s citizenship away has been in place for many years. The Home Secretary can exercise it when it would be “conducive to the public good”, even (in some cases) where it would make the person stateless. The circumstances in which she has done so have largely...
As background, British Overseas Territories Citizenship is one of the different forms of contemporary British nationality. It was one of the three main forms of status created by the British Nationality Act 1981 to replace Citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies. It was originally called British Dependent Territories Citizenship but...
In R (EOG & KTT) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 307, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that challenges arguing that Home Office policies breach the European Convention Against Trafficking (ECAT) are justiciable insofar as the policy purports to comply with ECAT. It went...
In this month’s update we’ve got a load of different topics to cover – from fees, investor visas and CSI to asylum, age assessments and appeals. The downloadable 30-minute podcast follows the running order below. Timestamps indicate when a particular section begins. Fees Supreme Court upholds government’s right to set...
Eligibility for NHS treatment does count as Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled. The case is C‑247/20 VI v Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Page contentsBackground: non-working EU citizens needed health insuranceWhy did it take so long to decide that the NHS counts...
Welcome to episode 98 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got a load of different topics to cover, from fees, investor visas and CSI to asylum, age assessments and appeals. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this...
