Making a mistake on an immigration application form can be disastrous. If the mistake is interpreted by officials as an attempt to mislead or deceive,
The process for identifying and supporting survivors of trafficking has been seriously degraded over the past couple of years and in this article I look
Immigration law is constantly changing and the Home Office updates its guidance documents accordingly. Sometimes you will need to look at an older version of
The UK government is limiting evacuations from Gaza to British citizens only, forcing families to separate if any of them are to be safe, leaving
Bill Gates once said that your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. If the same applies to the Home Office staff who
A would-be student stopped on arrival in the UK was wrongly denied a solicitor in interview, the High Court has found in R (on the
On 26 May, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) published a report ‘Asylum Screening in the UK: An audit of the UK’s asylum intake, registration
We live in a reaction economy. The age of social media means that governments, companies, and others in the public eye are not ruled by
Wednesday 10 May 2023 saw a few developments with the Illegal Migration Bill, as the second reading took place in the House of Lords, and
The government’s new Illegal Migration Bill is the latest in the long line of attempts to deal with refugee arrivals by making life difficult for
The Illegal Migration Bill paints a picture of irresponsible refugees who seem to delight in travelling illegally to the UK in dangerous small boats. Its
The government is right that the asylum backlog needs to be urgently addressed, but the Illegal Migration Bill will not tackle the backlog in any
As well as guidance for individuals receiving the new asylum questionnaires under the streamlined process, Refugee Action has produced guidance for unregulated or OISC Level
Resources have been published by Refugee Action to assist those who have received one of the new asylum questionnaires under the Home Office’s streamlined process.
The Home office has published new guidance introducing a streamlined process to deal with child asylum applications. The policy explained in the guidance apparently intends
On 15 February 2023, the High Court yet again found that the Secretary of State’s policy prohibiting migrants from accessing mainstream welfare benefits was unlawful.
This post provides an update on legal challenges to the Home Office’s policy and practice of requiring people on immigration bail to wear Global Positioning
The scandal of asylum-seeking children going missing from Home Office hotels (Ministers resist terms such as ‘kidnapped’) is an extreme situation. But they are not
Last week the immigration inspector published a 74-page stinging criticism of the Home Office’s approach to family reunion applications. After three previous inspections the Home
This month marks twenty years since the signing of one of the most significant Franco-British treaties in the last 50 years, the Le Touquet treaty.
Quarterly immigration statistics released last week show the asylum backlog has hit a record high as 160,919 asylum seekers await an initial asylum decision, quadruple
The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that a recognised victim of trafficking who is also an asylum seeker, partly fearing re-trafficking on return as well as
The High Court has determined that there are no damages available for people who were subject to the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) policy
The Home Office’s new policy temporary permission to stay for victims of trafficking and slavery was published on 30 January 2023. It accompanies the new
Rishi Sunak announced yesterday a number of measures to address the government’s self-made asylum backlog. The tone of Sunak’s statement was more measured than the
At the now infamous Manston processing centre in Kent, conditions are dire. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has known for weeks about the situation and did
The Home Office has released a new Interim Guidance: Requesting a second opinion for an external medical report/Medico-Legal Report as part of their offender management
There have been lots of different numbers and statistics relating to the UK’s asylum system mentioned over the last week. One of these is the
The Home Office has finally responded to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s judgment in the case of VI v Her Majesty’s Revenue
The Home Affairs Select Committee held an oral evidence session about Channel crossings and other key asylum issues last week. Since the evidence that was
Small boat crossings attract a lot of media and political attention. The images we see of refugees arriving on our shores clearly upset some people.
One month into the job, it’s clear that Suella Braverman is good at making the headlines. However, some of her rhetoric may seem familiar. The
The Home Office has agreed to review its policy Fee waiver: Human Rights-based and other specified applications, which provides guidance on the time limits for
There are a number of general and individual judicial review challenges to the government’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda. To recap, in April
It has been six months since the UK announced its initial response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, allowing those affected by the outbreak of
As we reported last week, a recent letter from government lawyers clarified the Home Office’s position that “[s]ince July 2022… migrants who cross the Channel
Suella Braverman’s speech to the Conservative Party conference yesterday evening confirmed two things. She really doesn’t like the Human Rights Act, the Modern Slavery Act
On 25 August 2022, the Home Office announced plans to fast-track the removal of Albanian nationals “with no right to be in the UK” under
We first heard of the Windrush scandal in early 2018, as a result of powerful investigative journalism. It stands for decades of injustice experienced by
When the pandemic first hit in March 2020 the Home Office was quick off the mark in allowing employers to conduct right to work checks
Making a mistake on an immigration application form can be disastrous. If the mistake is interpreted by officials as an attempt to mislead or deceive, the application may be refused and can also lead to a ten-year ban on re-entry to the UK. Following a Court of Appeal decision that...
The process for identifying and supporting survivors of trafficking has been seriously degraded over the past couple of years and in this article I look at the position in relation to grants of leave made to those people who have been identified as survivors of trafficking. Some recent decisions considering...
Immigration law is constantly changing and the Home Office updates its guidance documents accordingly. Sometimes you will need to look at an older version of the guidance that applied at a certain time but it is no longer on GOV.UK as it has been replaced with the new version. When...
The UK government is limiting evacuations from Gaza to British citizens only, forcing families to separate if any of them are to be safe, leaving others in extremely dangerous circumstances. It has been one month since the war started, and Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza has intensified during this time....
Bill Gates once said that your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. If the same applies to the Home Office staff who have the unenviable job of fielding complaints about their colleagues from irate migrants and their lawyers, their enlightenment must rival that of any Renaissance polymath....
A would-be student stopped on arrival in the UK was wrongly denied a solicitor in interview, the High Court has found in R (on the application of Kumar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1741 (Admin). The facts Mr Kumar arrived at Manchester Airport with a...
On 26 May, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) published a report ‘Asylum Screening in the UK: An audit of the UK’s asylum intake, registration and screening procedures and recommendations for change’ which identifies a number of problem areas. They visited registration and screening locations across the UK between June...
We live in a reaction economy. The age of social media means that governments, companies, and others in the public eye are not ruled by accountants assessing their bottom line or journalists scrutinising their actions, but by voters tapping onto their screens at home. Few government departments have embraced this...
Wednesday 10 May 2023 saw a few developments with the Illegal Migration Bill, as the second reading took place in the House of Lords, and the Equality Impact Assessment was published. We’ve summarised the key points below. House of Lords The most interesting part of of the reading in the...
The government’s new Illegal Migration Bill is the latest in the long line of attempts to deal with refugee arrivals by making life difficult for them. In so doing, it sidesteps the real issues, the reality of both the facts of the refugee issue in the UK and where our...
The Illegal Migration Bill paints a picture of irresponsible refugees who seem to delight in travelling illegally to the UK in dangerous small boats. Its claim to prevent refugees travelling to the UK by these illegal and dangerous routes is a laudable aim. But the story is not so straightforward....
The government is right that the asylum backlog needs to be urgently addressed, but the Illegal Migration Bill will not tackle the backlog in any meaningful sense and could cause devastating harm to the rights of some of the most persecuted people in the world and the international refugee system....
As well as guidance for individuals receiving the new asylum questionnaires under the streamlined process, Refugee Action has produced guidance for unregulated or OISC Level 1 caseworkers, and guidance for asylum volunteers. The aim of these guides is to assist those who have been approached by or who are working...
Resources have been published by Refugee Action to assist those who have received one of the new asylum questionnaires under the Home Office’s streamlined process. You can read more in detail about what to do with the questionnaire, how to fill it in, what to be cautious of when asking...
The Home office has published new guidance introducing a streamlined process to deal with child asylum applications. The policy explained in the guidance apparently intends to help the Home Office fulfil the commitment made by Rishi Sunak to clear the asylum backlog by the end of 2023. The policy applies...
On 15 February 2023, the High Court yet again found that the Secretary of State’s policy prohibiting migrants from accessing mainstream welfare benefits was unlawful. The policy, known as the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition, was the target of two judicial review claims brought on behalf of destitute...
This post provides an update on legal challenges to the Home Office’s policy and practice of requiring people on immigration bail to wear Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. You can read more about the policy and the legal framework here and here. To summarise, in August 2021 the Home Office...
The scandal of asylum-seeking children going missing from Home Office hotels (Ministers resist terms such as ‘kidnapped’) is an extreme situation. But they are not the only children suffering at the hands of the UK’s migration policies. The Lords Justice and Home Affairs Select Committee has recently published All families...
Last week the immigration inspector published a 74-page stinging criticism of the Home Office’s approach to family reunion applications. After three previous inspections the Home Office’s performance had “deteriorated” and the inspection revealed “a system beset with delays and a team ill-equipped to manage the complexity and volume of applications”....
This month marks twenty years since the signing of one of the most significant Franco-British treaties in the last 50 years, the Le Touquet treaty. Whilst Le Touquet, a seaside town on the northern French coast one hour from Calais, may conjure images of calm beaches where Macron escapes Paris...
Quarterly immigration statistics released last week show the asylum backlog has hit a record high as 160,919 asylum seekers await an initial asylum decision, quadruple the number awaiting an initial decision at the end of 2019. In December 2022, following intense criticism over continuous unprecedented delays, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak...
The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that a recognised victim of trafficking who is also an asylum seeker, partly fearing re-trafficking on return as well as political persecution, should have been granted permission to stay (leave to remain) whilst their asylum claim was pending, in line with findings in R (KTT)...
The Home Office’s new policy temporary permission to stay for victims of trafficking and slavery was published on 30 January 2023. It accompanies the new appendix to the Immigration Rules of the same name, which was published on 18 October 2022 and came into force on 30 January this year....
Rishi Sunak announced yesterday a number of measures to address the government’s self-made asylum backlog. The tone of Sunak’s statement was more measured than the sometimes rather unhinged rhetoric to which we have become accustomed, although he still introduced the topic as being about “illegal immigration”. There were no attacks...
At the now infamous Manston processing centre in Kent, conditions are dire. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has known for weeks about the situation and did nothing until the media stepped in last week. But the UK is not alone in struggling to provide new arrivals access to safe and legal...
The Home Office has released a new Interim Guidance: Requesting a second opinion for an external medical report/Medico-Legal Report as part of their offender management caseworker guidance. The new guidance aims to “introduce an additional, clinical input to assist decision-making for those who may be vulnerable in immigration detention”. The...
There have been lots of different numbers and statistics relating to the UK’s asylum system mentioned over the last week. One of these is the backlog of people waiting for an initial decision on their asylum claim. Depending on whether or not people include dependents, the backlog of initial decisions...
The Home Office has finally responded to the Court of Justice of the European Union’s judgment in the case of VI v Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs C-247/20, handed down on 10 March 2022, by updating its guidance on European Economic Area (EEA) national qualified persons. The update effectively concedes...
The Home Affairs Select Committee held an oral evidence session about Channel crossings and other key asylum issues last week. Since the evidence that was heard on Wednesday, figures and quotes have hit the headlines. Criticism of Suella Braverman has been extensive and the Manston processing centre has become the...
Small boat crossings attract a lot of media and political attention. The images we see of refugees arriving on our shores clearly upset some people. The Conservative Member of Parliament for Dover and Deal in successive tweets, for example, says crossings are “no refugee crisis… but simply illegal immigration” and...
One month into the job, it’s clear that Suella Braverman is good at making the headlines. However, some of her rhetoric may seem familiar. The government’s hostile environment policy is well-rehearsed and the media has played a significant and long-term role in developing the rhetoric that we see today. It...
The Home Office has agreed to review its policy Fee waiver: Human Rights-based and other specified applications, which provides guidance on the time limits for making human rights based immigration applications where an application is made after a fee waiver has been granted. This comes after confusion over deadlines threatened...
There are a number of general and individual judicial review challenges to the government’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda. To recap, in April 2022 the government announced a Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda for the provision of “an asylum partnership arrangement”. Under this arrangement, asylum seekers...
It has been six months since the UK announced its initial response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, allowing those affected by the outbreak of conflict to arrive or remain in the UK under visa-based immigration routes. Three routes were made available: These visas grant three years limited leave to...
As we reported last week, a recent letter from government lawyers clarified the Home Office’s position that “[s]ince July 2022… migrants who cross the Channel in small boats who are either rescued or directed to land at designated locations by the authorities are no longer deemed to be illegal entrants,...
Suella Braverman’s speech to the Conservative Party conference yesterday evening confirmed two things. She really doesn’t like the Human Rights Act, the Modern Slavery Act or the European Court of Human Rights. And that the problems with the UK immigration system are complex and intense. One of these problems is...
On 25 August 2022, the Home Office announced plans to fast-track the removal of Albanian nationals “with no right to be in the UK” under plans agreed with the Albanian government (it was said) “to tackle the scourge of small boat crossings”. The fast-track removal scheme appeared to be explicitly...
We first heard of the Windrush scandal in early 2018, as a result of powerful investigative journalism. It stands for decades of injustice experienced by thousands, whose lawful existence in this country was denied by the state. Individuals faced constant questioning about their rights and entitlements and were told that...
When the pandemic first hit in March 2020 the Home Office was quick off the mark in allowing employers to conduct right to work checks remotely. Rather than having to meet job applicants and employees needing to renew their status in person, they were able to do so via a...
