The Court of Appeal has given further guidance on the convoluted and badly drafted statutory presumptions on human rights in UK law. Trying to make sense of interlocking provisions in the UK Borders Act 2007, the Immigration Rules as amended (and amended and amended) and the Immigration Act 2014, the...
The Court of Appeal has found that the Exceptional Case Funding regime for legal aid is lawful, overturning the decision of Collins J in the High Court ([2015] EWHC Admin 1965). The issues are distinct to R (on the application of Gudanaviciene & Ors) v The Director of Legal Aid...
The challenge by organisation Britcits to the virtual prohibition on the entry of adult dependant relatives introduced in 2012 has been dismissed: R (on the application of Britcits) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] EWHC 956 (Admin). Despite the disappointing outcome, though, there is a distinct silver...
Interesting and controversial case on X-rays and age assessment from the Court of Appeal: London Borough of Croydon v Y [2016] EWCA Civ 398 (26 April 2016). Essentially, the Court holds that the claimant would have to agree to an age assessment by means of a dental X-ray in order...
The case of G and H v Upper Tribunal and SSHD [2016] EWHC 239 (Admin) is notable as the first reported case of a successful substantive Cart JR against a decision of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) refusing permission to appeal from the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) to...
UPDATE 26/2/16: permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal has been granted so the Court of Appeal judgment will not be the last word. Supreme Court grants our client @publiclawprojct permission tochallenge racially discriminatory Residence Test: https://t.co/hw46QnTnWZ — Bindmans LLP (@BindmansLLP) February 26, 2016 In Public Law Project v...
Fundamental Rights Conference: a public law perspective Saturday 10 October 2015, 9:45 – 17:00 Venue: LSE New Academic Building 54 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ CPD: 5.5 Garden Court Chambers’ Public Law Team in association with Legal Action Group and the London School of Economics invites you to join...
The Court of Appeal turns its attention to the admission of family members outside the requirements of the Immigration Rules in the case of Secretary of State for the Home Department v SS (Congo) [2015] EWCA Civ 387. The judgment came out in April and I omitted to write it...
The Court of Appeal condemns the complexity of the Points Based System in the case of Hossain & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 207. Lord Justice Beatson says at paragraph 30: The detail, the number of documents that have to be consulted, the...
Back in 2006, even before this blog first began and in the aftermath of his predecessor’s resignation, then Home Secretary John Reid declared that his department was “not fit for purpose”. A huge backlog of some half a million cases had been uncovered and the department would aim to deal...
UPDATE: see report of Supreme Court judgment here. The judgment is now out in the long awaited case of MM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2014] EWCA Civ 985, the test case challenging the minimum income threshold for spouses wishing to enter the United Kingdom. The Court...
The Court of Appeal has finally grappled with the question of how to apply the best interests of children in an immigration context and given detailed guidance on how judges should approach the exercise. The judgment, in the case of EV (Philippines) & Ors v Secretary of State for the...
Page contentsHigh CourtCourt of AppealMF (Nigeria)SS (Congo)Edgehill, Haleemudeen, Singh: transitional provisionsSupreme Court High Court In R (on the application of Nagre) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] EWHC 720 (Admin) (FM write up) Mr Justice Sales, drawing on concessions made by the Home Office, found that the...
There has been a significant decision in the Inner House of the Court of Session – the Scottish equivalent to the Court of Appeal – on the Home Office’s use of language analysis for the determination of origin, or ‘LADO’. The decision allowing the two conjoined appeals both by a...
The Court of Justice of the European Union handed down judgment in the case of Germany v Y and Z [2012] EUECJ C-71/11 on 5 September 2012. This is one of the first Court of Justice cases to consider the definition of a refugee and the terms of Directive 2004/83/EC,...
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter! First of all, a quick reminder that our membership prices are going up on Wednesday this week (1 May). It’s been a week. On Tuesday morning, hours after the Safety of Rwanda Act completed its final stages in parliament, five people included a little girl died while trying to...
Closing date: 13th May 2024 5pm This is an opportunity to join a highly successful, creative, dynamic immigration team. Islington Law Centre has a much-respected Immigration Team. We are a category 1 Legal Aid Immigration provider and we have considerable experience across the range of immigration work with experience of...
The backlog of cases in the inadmissibility process was in the news again last week following senior Home Officials’ evidence session at the Public Accounts Committee on Monday. This article looks at legal arguments that can be made in relation to the Home Office’s delay in making admissibility decisions for...
Closing Date: 13-May-2024 Lead Immigration Lawyer We are looking for a dynamic and committed solicitor (or barrister with authorisation to conduct litigation) to join our legal team as Lead Immigration Lawyer. This is an exciting role, and will suit someone who enjoys using the law creatively and working collaboratively. ATLEU...
In other posts we have looked at the requirements to be satisfied by a spouse or partner who seek leave to enter or remain. Under Appendix FM, the sponsor can be a British citizen, a settled person, a refugee, or someone with humanitarian protection, limited leave under Appendix EU, Appendix...
The Court of Appeal has told the Ministry of Defence that they must reconsider whether an Afghan former Supreme Court judge is eligible for resettlement to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). This was following an unsuccessful appeal by the Home Secretary and the Defence Secretary...
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...
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...
First of all, a huge thank you and congratulations to all those who worked so hard on their responses to the Review of Civil Legal Aid call for evidence, which closed last week. I promise this isn’t one of those situations where I am subtly trying to communicate that I’ve...
Although now largely eclipsed by the Illegal Migration Act 2023, the Nationality and Borders Act 2022’s legacy will be its criminalisation of the act of seeking asylum in the UK. This article aims to give an overview of the changes to the law. Entry vs arrival By way of background,...
We are looking for an experienced Immigration Solicitor. This is an opportunity to join a highly successful, creative and dynamic immigration team. Islington Law Centre has a much-respected Immigration Team. We are a category 1 Legal Aid Immigration provider and we have considerable experience across the range of immigration work...
Having presumably learned from their much criticised mishandling of certain trafficking cases, the government published a statement yesterday stating that they have paused consideration of asylum claims from a certain group. Those affected are people who arrived on or after 1 January 2022 and who received a notice of intent before...
Advances IAAS Accredited Immigration Caseworker (Level 3) to join as Joint Head of Immigration Department and IAAS Senior Caseworker (level 2) Thompson & Co. Solicitors Ltd offers diverse expertise in a wider range of practice areas, including but not limited to immigration, asylum, and human rights law. We hold legal...
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...
In a recent decision, Mohammed Ismael Suliman Abdullah for judicial review [2024] ScotCS CSOH_8, the Court of Session clarified that when a young person is seeking for a court to make a finding in relation to their age in Scotland, the action should be raised as a declarator of age...
The short answer is “yes, criminals can be denied refugee status.” There is a moral dimension to the Refugee Convention. But the criminal offence or offending must be particularly serious in nature. The offending or behaviour must be serious in nature because denying refugee status to a person and sending...
I’ve just read an excellent analysis by Chris Rowe of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the minimum income requirement for spouses in the MM case and the prospects for bringing a challenge to the higher threshold the government is set on introducing: £29,000 in the spring and £38,700 at some...
The Home Secretary has been unlawfully operating a secret policy preventing victims of trafficking from being granted the leave that they were entitled to while their asylum claim was pending. The case is XY v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 81 (Admin). This article is a...
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...
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...
A compilation of top content on UK immigration law and policy, updated weekly. Immigration as contract: care visas and international students – Colin’s Substack, 15 December Bibby Stockholm asylum seeker who died in suspected suicide is named – The Guardian, 18 December One person dead after refugee boat in Channel...
The Safety of Rwanda (Immigration and Asylum) Bill has been published. There is no explanatory memorandum that I have seen, so I have done my best without that to explain what is in the Bill. As was the case with the Illegal Migration Bill, it begins with a declaration by...
