Free Movement – Details, episodes & analysis

Barry joins Sonia again this month to look back at what happened in August. We cover the latest statistics on asylum, immigration and trafficking. There are a couple of cases relating to asylum family reunion, as well as a policy change for those separated during Operation Pitting. Other cases covered included deprivation of citizenship, an unsuccessful challenge to legal aid provision for young people and a successful challenge by Bail for Immigration Detainees in a freedom of information challenge. We also discuss updates on a couple of reports from the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the latest on what is happening with Tech Nation.

The 43 minute podcast follows the running order below:

 

Asylum (00:55)

Latest statistics show little movement on the asylum backlog, drop in students and health and care workers

Positive decisions by immigration authority remain very low in latest trafficking statistics

Unsuccessful challenge to lack of legal aid for asylum interviews

Appeal against grant of limited bail on Diego Garcia dismissed

No discrimination found against Afghan man blocked from Ukraine schemes

Tribunal orders Home Office to disclose information on emergency travel documents for Somalia and Eritrea

New country of origin information on children and young people from Sudan

Home Office finally announces separated families route for Afghan evacuated families

How to prepare suicide risk cases

 

General immigration (22:40)

A step by step guide to applying for an eVisa

Solicitors Regulation Authority publishes reviews of training records and asylum legal services

 

Family (29:15)

Upper Tribunal says that article 8 rights of overseas family members must be considered

 

Work routes (33:25)

A route of last resort: two years of the UK Expansion Worker visa

The latest on Tech Nation and the Global Talent route

 

Nationality (35:40)

Court of Appeal dismisses appeal against deprivation of citizenship

 

Updated (38:25)

Leave to remain application date: how to calculate it and why it is important

How to apply for a UK Ancestry visa

How much does it cost to sponsor someone for a UK work visa?

Briefing: what is leave outside the rules?

Will I need Electronic Travel Authorisation to enter the UK?

It's August and Colin is away on holiday so Sonia was joined by a very special guest, Barry O'Leary, for the July roundup. Sonia and Barry discussed the end of the Rwanda scheme and the resumed processing of asylum cases, things not to do when carrying out an asylum backlog clearance, and the latest pause on decision making. They also cover the many EU Settlement Scheme cases that came out in July, the Windrush Compensation Scheme, a very popular post on a case involving estoppel and passports, and much much more.

The 53 minute podcast follows the running order below:

Asylum (00:55)

The Rwanda policy is in its death throes

Asylum processing to resume as new regulations allow grants of leave to be made

Lessons to be learned from the last asylum backlog clearance exercise

Successful challenge by Masters student to asylum accommodation move

Freedom of information request shows increase in multiple asylum interview invites for applicants

Asylum Support Tribunal says it can consider lawfulness of Home Office withdrawal of asylum claims

High Court finds trafficking decision unlawful for failure to consider all available evidence

Policy on leave to remain for survivors of trafficking continues to cause confusion and distress

Home Secretary delayed decisions on trafficking victims’ cases because of Rwanda policy – paving the way for potential damages claims  

 

EU Settlement Scheme (17:30)

Lengthy absences from the UK can still put EU settled status at risk

EU Settlement Scheme: automatic extensions and potential curtailments

Home Office policy on delaying consideration of EUSS applications held to be unlawful

Court of Appeal finds breach of Withdrawal Agreement in “mystery” stamp case

Court of Appeal resolves ambiguity about assumed dependency in EU Settlement Scheme

Detention (28:07)

Harmondsworth detention centre inspection report: “worst conditions” ever seen

 

Nationality (30:30)

Briefing: a guide to applications to the Windrush Compensation Scheme

High Court finds passport office prevented from refusing passport to person who may not actually be British

High Court upholds refusal to register child as a British Citizen

 

Points Based System (38:30)

High Court confirms that mandatory sponsor licence revocation is actually mandatory in latest care home case

How the UK’s systems for dealing with overseas entertainers have descended into farce and how they can be improved

 

Procedure (41:42)

eVisas: who is affected and what steps to take now

First-tier Tribunal judge carried out “wholly inappropriate” cross-examination of appellant

 

Immigration (48:20)

New Home Office guidance clarifies transitional provisions for absences in the 10 year long residence route

Our November roundup is here, where Colin and I cover the latest asylum and trafficking statistics, changes to the way late applications to the EUSS are treated, questions the SRA still hasn't answered, a couple of articles on Palestinians as well as quite a lot of case law.

Policy (00:45)

Assessing Braverman’s legacy as Home Secretary: Part Deux

 

Asylum (02:10)

Latest statistics show huge increase in rejections of late EU settlement scheme applications, no evidence that Rwanda has impacted Channel crossings

Briefing: four looming problems in the UK asylum system and how to address them

Permission granted in challenge to rejection of Albanian asylum claim

Returning a refugee to persecution must be a last resort

India and Georgia to be added to the list of ‘safe’ countries

Gaza: what is the UK doing to rescue British citizens and their family members?

Damages claim for asylum delay dismissed by Court of Appeal

Upper Tribunal failed to properly assess whether error of law was material in asylum appeal

 

Immigration (16:10)

Court of Appeal tells Home Office to reconsider “plainly wrong” decision on Turkish business person application

Deception case returned to the Upper Tribunal after material error of law made

Making sense of sole responsibility for child visas in immigration law

 

Deportation (19:10)

Court of Appeal says deportation of mother of British child not “unduly harsh”

 

Nationality (20:45)

Court of Appeal dismisses appeal on interpretation of nationality law

 

Trafficking (21:55)

Latest trafficking figures show benefit of change in Home Office policy

The UK must improve labour market enforcement in order to tackle exploitation of workers

Increasing numbers of sponsored migrant workers are being exploited in the UK

 

EU Settlement Scheme (26:05)

Important changes to the way late EUSS applications are treated

Court of Appeal dismisses government appeal on access to benefits for people with pre settled status

 

Procedure (28:38)

How to become an OISC level 2 adviser

Government should not routinely remove names of civil servants in judicial review disclosure

Guidance in Begum on deprivation decisions is not restricted to national security cases

Solicitors Regulation Authority has questions to answer about their “warning” to immigration solicitors

Late evidence from the Home Office can be admitted in an appeal where the appellant was aware of it

 

Updated article (34:30)

Briefing: Article 1D of the Refugee Convention and Palestinian refugees

Welcome to the November 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we again take it from the top with the Supreme Court’s latest attempt to cut through the complexity of our immigration law before turning to a major High Court decision on trafficking. November also saw the Home Office roll out a new in-country application system, so we’ll discuss what we know about that so far. There’s then some Upper Tribunal case law on appeals, asylum and Article 3 to chew on, and we conclude on the now-infamous paragraph 322(5).

If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Movement member. There are now over 40 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here.
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically downloaded for listening to on the go.
To access previous Free Movement immigration update podcasts click here.
The main content of the downloadable 25-minute audio podcast follows the (non chronological) order of content below:
Human rights
Supreme Court decides meaning of “precarious immigration status” and “financially independent”
Exceptional circumstances in a spouse or partner visa application under Appendix FM
Trafficking
Major court win for trafficking victims as subsistence payment cut is reversed
Procedure
The new UK in-country visa application system
Family of four face removal for failing to tick box on visa application form

Appeals law
A “new matter” includes EU law arguments
Upper Tribunal grants general permission to appeal to Afghan hijackers
Asylum
Immigration Rules on humanitarian protection conflict with EU law
Home Office “too accepting” of dire asylum accommodation, immigration inspector finds
Article 3

Welcome to the October 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. We posted 40 articles on the blog last month, but are realistically limited in a podcast to discussing the most important ten or so. A Supreme Court judgment obviously qualifies, so we start with that one on how the best interests of children factor into removal decisions before turning to another case involving children, this time in the Upper Tribunal. There’s also a set of changes to the Immigration Rules to mug up on.
Most of the rest of this month’s update is case law, of which the most significant case may be on Surinder Singh rights. There are a couple of asylum decisions to be aware of also, albeit on reasonably niche issues, as well as some new unlawful detention cases. We round off on two reported cases from the Upper Tribunal, one on trafficking and one on Article 8.
If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Movement member. There are now over 40 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here.
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically downloaded for listening to on the go.
To access previous Free Movement immigration update podcasts click here.
The main content of the downloadable 32-minute audio podcast follows the (non chronological) order of content below:
Children
Supreme Court: bad behaviour by parent irrelevant to best interests of children
Upper Tribunal tackles the law on the parent/child relationship
Immigration Rules
New statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 1534
EU
Courts foil Home Office attempt to hamstring Surinder Singh rights
Detention
Split Court of Appeal finds that asylum seekers were unlawfully detained
Failure to carry out proper medical assessment makes detention unlawful
Asylum
Home Office CAN speak to your persecutor without asking you
Court of Appeal says...

Welcome to the September 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. We tried something a bit different this month. CJ and I ran the podcast together in a more conversational style. To keep the length reasonable we’ve focussed in on fewer subjects but covered them in a bit more depth. Let us know if you think it is better or worse in comments, please! We’ll try again in the same style for the next couple of months and see how it goes. It was a new experience for us and we’d hope we’d improve with practice.
We start by talking about deprivation of citizenship, before moving on to Brexit. There’s less case law to cover than usual, but a few interesting decisions and policy changes on asylum, deportation and human rights are worth reviewing.
If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Movement member. There are now over 40 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here.
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically downloaded for listening to on the go.
To access previous Free Movement immigration update podcasts click here.
The main content of the downloadable 33-minute audio podcast follows the (non chronological) order of content below:
Nationality
Deprivation of citizenship justified by treasonous conduct finds Court of Appeal
How can the Home Office tear up the British passport of a six-year-old boy born in Leeds?
Brexit
Brexit no deal: immigration and the status of EU and UK citizens
Asylum
Fellow church-goers can give “expert evidence” on an asylum seeker’s conversion to Christianity
Stateless refugee family win right to have claims decided in UK
Refugee children to be granted “Calais leave”
Fixing refugee family reunion system not a Home Office priority, inspector says
Deportation
EU law can be used to challenge employment restrictions imposed during deportation proceedings

Welcome to the August 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I start on two subjects I’ve always been interested in, refusals of visit visa applications and the power to deprive people of their British citizenship. Both came to public attention in August due to media coverage. From there we go to the more specialist realm of procedure, including some significant new guidance on awarding costs against the Home Office. Then I mention a few developments in human rights and EU law, including Brexit, before finishing on some interesting new judgments on human trafficking.
If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Movement member. There are now over 40 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here.
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically downloaded for listening to on the go.
To access previous Free Movement immigration update podcasts click here.
The main content of the downloadable 25-minute audio podcast follows the (non chronological) order of content below:
Visit visas
What’s going on with UK visit visas?
Visit visa refusals: appeal or judicial review?
Citizenship
How is the government using its increased powers to strip British people of their citizenship?
Procedure
New guidance on costs awards against the Home Office could transform immigration appeals
Upper Tribunal should correct its money laundering warning to immigration solicitors
Upper Tribunal’s error of law reasoning can very rarely be altered when a decision is re-made
Human rights
When does bad immigration advice affect a human rights appeal?
Migrants need the right to work while fighting immigration cases
How to apply for a UK spouse or partner visa
What are the financial requirements for UK spouse and partner visas?
EU law

Welcome to the July 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I start by discussing some developments in nationality law, then cover the EU Settlement Scheme that is starting to take shape and currently being piloted. While we await Brexit, EU law still applies, so we cover a judgment on the Surinder Singh immigration route as well as changes to the EEU Regulations. Then some material on asylum and detention, before the usual procedural update.
If you are a lawyer and would like to claim CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Movement member. There are now over 80 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here.
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically downloaded for listening to on the go.
To access previous Free Movement immigration update podcasts click here.
The main content of the downloadable 30-minute audio podcast follows the (non chronological) order of content below:
Nationality
Home Office makes almost £100 million from children registering as British citizens
Part of the British Nationality Act 1981 found incompatible with human rights law
Home Office unlawfully nullifies British citizenship in hundreds of cases
People can now be deprived of their British citizenship by email
Brexit
New statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: CM 9675
Campaigners publish legal analysis of EU Settlement Scheme
How will Brexit affect Irish citizens in the UK?
What the Brexit White Paper says about immigration
EU law
Court of Justice finds Surinder Singh applies to extended family members
Changes to the EEA Regulations come into force on 24 July 2018
Asylum

Welcome to the June 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. I start this month with a whistle-stop tour of some of the latest changes to the Immigration Rules before highlighting a couple of procedural changes, including the end of special deadlines for the Home Office in judicial review cases. Then to Brexit, as the government published something approaching a plan on citizens’ rights, and then to some judgments around children and families. I then note some case law on trafficking, deportation and asylum before ending on a note of alarm on immigration bail accommodation. This month we published a lot of new or updated explainers on many of these topics, which I won’t attempt to summarise in the podcast but will flag up as we go through.
If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Movement member. There are now over 40 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here.
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically downloaded for listening to on the go.
To access previous Free Movement immigration update podcasts click here.
The main content of the downloadable 25-minute audio podcast follows the (non chronological) order of content below:
Immigration Rules
New statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC1154
Procedure
Tribunal belatedly ends Home Office exemption from judicial review time “rules”
Immigration tribunal Practice Statements re-issued almost unchanged
Leave to remain application date: how to calculate it and why it is important
Brexit
Settled status scheme slowly taking shape as ministers reveal new details
How to apply for “settled status” for EU citizens (updated)
Briefing: What are the barriers to British citizenship for EU nationals?
Families
Same-sex spouses should benefit from free movement rights, says CJEU

Welcome to the May 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. It was a bumper month for immigration and asylum law updates, with 61 posts published on Free Movement in May. I can’t possibly cover everything, but the highlights include an important High Court intervention on automatic detention and new judicial guidance on immigration bail. From there I move on to the latest case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union and then return to the UK for some developments on the now infamous Windrush cases. Then there are some new cases in the rather different areas of business and asylum and the usual dry but vital procedural changes.
If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Movement member. There are now over 40 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here.
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically downloaded for listening to on the go.
To access previous Free Movement immigration update podcasts click here.
The main content of the downloadable 30-minute audio podcast follows the (non chronological) order of content below:
Detention
High Court throws spanner in the works of automatic detention policy
New guidance for judges on granting immigration bail
Luxembourg
Entry bans don’t preclude residence card applications, says Court of Justice
Can war criminals be expelled or excluded under EU law? It depends
Jumping the gun in Dublin III cases
Court of Justice to decide whether self-employed women have Saint Prix maternity rights
Windrush
New details on help for the Windrush generation
An overlooked weapon in Windrush cases: judicial review
Business
Carriers’ liability: Ryanair challenges the Secretary of State – and loses