In addition to the deluge of new Immigration Rules and legislation we faced in the May years, and now the looming Brexit iceberg, a major (if inevitable) change of recent times has been the digitisation of immigration applications. Unlike with Rules and legislation changes, there was little opportunity to scrutinise...
Figures obtained by Free Movement show that fewer than two thousand non-EU carers rely on EU law for their right to live in the UK. The relatively small number of people relying on these “derived rights of residence” raises questions about why the government appears set to deny them settlement...
As we have seen, much of immigration law involves applying for permission to enter or remain in the UK. That is why immigration lawyers so often speak in terms of “applications” in their trade. The importance of submitting valid applications cannot be underestimated. Submitting an application which is not valid...
The Immigration Rules can be daunting to approach, and it is often difficult to find what one is after. Basically, they are divided into an introduction, various “parts”, and many appendices. Page contentsStructure of the Immigration RulesNavigating the Immigration RulesStructure of each categoryLocating a ruleKey conceptsDependantsPoints-Based Immigration System sponsorshipMoney, money,...
The Home Office has announced a formal application process for victims of the Windrush scandal and other long-term residents to get documents proving their right to live in the UK. The “Windrush Scheme” will go live on 30 May, replacing a helpline that was set up under Amber Rudd. Instead...
Theresa May declared in an interview with the Telegraph in May 2012 that she wanted to create a “really hostile environment” for irregular migrants in the UK. In this blog post we look at the evolution of the hostile environment, consider what measures fall within the overarching policy and examine the effects...
We are told repeatedly by UK politicians that EU citizenship is too expansive; it confers too many rights to encourage too much freedom of movement to too many people. This is why The British People voted to leave in the 2016 referendum, we are told. It is refreshing to read...
Several cases have come to light in recent weeks and months of the treatment of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Unable to provide evidence of their right to reside in the UK, these legal immigrants are losing jobs, being detained, and being denied...
Government measures aimed at stopping irregular migrants from renting a home are not being properly evaluated, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has found. The controversial Right to Rent scheme is “yet to demonstrate its worth as a tool to encourage immigration compliance, with the Home Office failing...
Asylum support must provide a safe place to live and enough money for people to look after themselves and their families. An extra 80p a week doesn’t cut it, writes Hannah Cooper, senior research and policy officer at Refugee Action. People seeking asylum will soon be entitled to an extra 80...
Some EU citizens now living in the UK will find themselves committing criminal offences after Brexit. That much is certain. How many people exactly will become unlawfully resident is probably impossible to calculate, and here at Free Movement we do not have the resources to do so, but the number...
Page contentsWhat is the hostile environment?Origins and development of the hostile environmentWho is affected by the hostile environment?What is the intention behind the hostile environment?Access to employment: employer sanctionsAccess to love: restrictions on marriage and relationshipsAccess to housing: the “right to rent”Access to health: NHS charging and data sharingAccess to...
Theresa May refused to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK but did at least assure them that their situation would be a early negotiating priority. That perhaps was not terribly reassuring given that Theresa May also suggested that everyone should prepare for the UK to crash out...
Page contentsThe implications for Scotland of a vote in the EU referendum for the UK to leave the EUIntroductionThe current legal positionThe referendum and withdrawal: legal arrangementsUK devolution arrangementsThe messier realityScotland and the EU—a distinctive relationship?More devolved powers for Scotland, more intertwined responsibilities, more constitutional unease?Scotland and migration—divergence and tension...
Page contentsEU free movement in practice at home and abroadIntroduction Treaty provisions on free movement for EU citizensWho determines who is a citizen of the Union?What rights does EU citizenship bring to individuals?What about the wider and economic benefits of EU citizenship?Setting up a businessEducation and researchSharing of personal dataMobile phone...
Page contentsFree movement of persons and the single marketIntroductionContext of free movementTable 1 – Top 6 recent countries of origin for EU migrants, 2011-2015The four freedomsRules on free movementThe relevant Treaty provisionsCitizenship of the UnionUK’s ‘New Settlement’ dealThe key rightsThe right to leave, to enter and to resideThe right to...
JCWI is running a new fundraising campaing to create a series of plaques in the style of the blue national heritage ones to celebrate the contribution of refugees to our society over time. …In fact refugees have historically been huge contributors to innovation, industry and culture around the world. Refugee populations...
This text is based on a talk given by Sonel on 24 February 2016 at an ILPA event on family immigration law. Since 2012, family immigration in UK has taken a particularly nasty turn, even where and maybe especially where, the sponsor is a British citizen. There was Quila, interfering...
Standing at the door to No 10, David Cameron stated that he would form a majority government and implement the Conservative Party manifesto “in full”. The moderating influence of the Liberal Democrats has been extinguished. The nationalist isolationism of the Scots and the SNP renders them irrelevant in UK politics...
In the case of R (on the application of FI) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWHC 2287 (Admin) the court was asked to review a decision to refuse to register as a British citizen a 14-year-old who had been settled with Indefinite Leave to Enter the UK for 8 years and was coming up to his...
Page contentsPart 5: OISC schemeSections 68, 69 and 70: immigration and nationality feesSection 71: duty towards childrenPart 7: Administrative mattersSchedules Part 5: OISC scheme Part 5 of the Act makes adjustments to the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) scheme that will be of little interest to non OISC regulated advisers and indeed of […]
...On 19 January 2014, Iain Duncan Smith and Theresa May told the Daily Mail that Britain’s generous welfare system should no longer be a ‘magnet’ for citizens of other EU states and that they would be introducing a number of measures aimed at new migrant jobseekers from the European Economic...
