Welcome to episode 76 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with an important case concerning the hostile environment and the latest hardline deportation decisions. We then discuss immigration detention, including a case on the impact of coronavirus, before covering benefits, removals of migrants with children, immigration tribunal procedure and some mild controversy involving First-tier Tribunal judges. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the materia...
May 15, 2020•29 min
Welcome to episode 75 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we are covering March and there’s a lot to go over. We’ve got some EU law material, some fairly involved appeals law stuff on when a human rights claim generates a right or appeal or not, we’ll cover a few human rights issues around family life and settlement, briefly touch on some protection claims including a Supreme Court case and then end with mentions for the EU Settlement Scheme and the upcoming Immigration B...
Apr 16, 2020•30 min
Welcome to episode 74 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got a couple of Supreme Court decisions to cover then a carousel of other cases on detention, the rights of British children to live with their parents in the UK, asylum, EU law, human rights, citizenship and the future of the immigration system. We start, though, by talking a little about what the coronavirus might mean in the short, medium and long term for immigration law and practice. If you would like to...
Mar 18, 2020•27 min
Welcome to episode 73 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with asylum, in particular the new Iraq country guidance decision, before turning to the rebranded Global Talent visa and the latest on Brexit. There are a couple of disappointing cases on immigration detention to cover, followed by an Article 3 update and the usual procedural pointers. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free Move...
Feb 13, 2020•24 min
Welcome to episode 72 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with the excellent result on child citizenship fees and the Supreme Court’s clarification of the legal test in Zambrano cases. There are also interesting cases on investment visas, unlawful detention and deportation law to cover, as well some developments in asylum law. 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. Ther...
Jan 17, 2020•20 min
Welcome to episode 71 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we explain the ramifications of the Supreme Court decision in Hemmati as well as recent developments in asylum and trafficking. The DeSouza case on the Good Friday Agreement has been reported by the Upper Tribunal, along with a bunch of procedural cases. Finally, we look at the latest in deportation law from the Court of Appeal. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this po...
Dec 20, 2019•31 min
Welcome to episode 70 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we lead on some case law on asylum before turning to the latest changes to the EU Settlement Scheme (yes, they’ve replaced Appendix EU all over again). We then discuss new Home Office guidance on deception, an interesting European Court of Human Rights judgment and the position with historic convictions in fresh deportation proceedings. For dessert, we celebrate the demise of the notorious “take-away rule”. If you ...
Nov 22, 2019•24 min
Welcome to episode 69 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This is a bumper Brexit issue: we’ll be covering the government’s policy on ending free movement for EU citizens, in addition to a healthy crop of cases on EU immigration law while we’ve still got it. There are also some changes to the Immigration Rules on the Points Based System and asylum. We end on how not to get sent to prison by a family court judge. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and list...
Oct 21, 2019•25 min
Welcome to episode 68 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. We’re continuing our review of the summer, with developments to mention in areas as diverse as asylum, litigation costs, citizenship deprivation and human trafficking. We’ll also discuss new visas for scientists and entrepreneurs. 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 100 CPD hours of training materials available...
Oct 10, 2019•22 min
Welcome to episode 67 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. As you may have noticed, we’ve been on a rather extended holiday, so we’re going to use this and the next episode to catch you up on what’s gone on in immigration law over the summer. There are a fair few cases to discuss, especially on detention, deportation and asylum. We then have good news to mention on EU law document applications, and some less good news on the procedural front. If you would like to claim CPD points for...
Sep 27, 2019•24 min
The way that I tell clients to treat this kind of evidence gathering process is… don’t treat it as an evidence gathering process. It may sound a little corny, but treat it as a celebration of your relationship so far. You’re telling a story to someone of how you met, what you’ve done together, where you’ve been. Imagine that you were explaining the relationship to your gran. Among the requirements for getting a UK partner visa are that “the relationship between the applicant and their partner mu...
Aug 20, 2019•24 min
Welcome to episode 66 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. CJ has just been on a podcasting course and you may notice a few differences this month, including some intro music. This month we start in the Supreme Court with its decision on the Worker Registration Scheme. We then tackle some recent controversies over long residence and passport eGates before running through the latest case law on asylum. A few quick updates on work visas and deportation law follow, and we conclude with ...
Jul 22, 2019•28 min
Welcome to the May 2019 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This was a mercifully quiet month in immigration law, for a change, but there’s still a few decisions from the Court of Appeal to be aware of — particularly on asylum and trafficking — as well as an important process change for Zambrano applicants. There’s a useful judgment on damages for unlawful detention from the European Court of Human Rights and a new Shortage Occupation List coming in, and we also chat about t...
Jun 14, 2019•27 min
The Home Office processed around 166,000 applications for British citizenship last year. Most are granted, but some are refused. The most common reason for refusal is failing the ‘good character’ test . Almost 4,000 bids for citizenship were rejected on this ground last year. That makes up 40% of all refusals, or 2% of all decided applications (successful or unsuccessful). The requirement that a would-be British citizen be “of good character” is set out in the British Nationality Act 1981 , but ...
Jun 03, 2019•20 min
Welcome to the April 2019 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with a big Court of Appeal decision on “paragraph 322(5)” tax cases and the state of play on the new business visas. There’s just one asylum judgment to review, but several on deportation and detention. We’ll then look at some immigration appeals law and some non-Brexit EU law before finishing on the compensation scheme for victims of the Windrush scandal. If you would like to claim CPD points ...
May 20, 2019•27 min
The EU Settlement Scheme is well underway, with 600,000 European citizens and their families having now applied to stay in the UK after Brexit. The scheme appears to have lived up to its billing insofar as the Home Office is looking to grant people settled status rather than refuse it. Officially, there have been zero refusals in the 188,000 cases decided by mid-April 2019. It does seem wildly unlikely that a 100% grant rate will be sustained in the long run. There have been well-documented teet...
May 14, 2019•28 min
Welcome to the March 2019 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with a couple of High Court victories by NGOs before turning to some significant developments in business immigration. There’s also been some movement in asylum law which we’ll review before looking at some new cases concerning appeal rights and children. We finish on developments in the wonderful world of immigration detention, including the damning Home Affairs committee report castigating th...
Apr 12, 2019•28 min
Welcome to the February 2019 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with a quick discussion of deprivation of citizenship in the context of the Shamima Begum case before tackling some of the case law on asylum (in particular Sri Lanka for some reason). Then to legal aid, where there’s good news for practitioners seeking to backdate a certificate but the government confirmed that the major cuts to legal aid of recent years will remain in place. We then touch ...
Mar 15, 2019•32 min
Welcome to the delayed January 2019 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. We start the round-up with some mixed news on appeal rights before getting into the latest on Brexit and the Settlement Scheme for EU citizens living in the UK. There is some significant new guidance on good character in the context of British citizenship applications to chew over and then some business immigration updates. Finally we fly through a few cases from the Upper Tribunal, in particular on asyl...
Mar 08, 2019•24 min
Welcome to the December 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. It’s a bumper issue, with a host of immigration announcements just before Christmas to cover, including two sets of changes to the Immigration Rules, a white paper, an Immigration Bill and announcements on EU citizens’ rights. We run through the main policy and procedural changes for lawyers to be aware of before turning to some case law on asylum and detention, as well as all the Upper Tribunal’s reported deci...
Jan 14, 2019•27 min
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, an...
Dec 21, 2018•25 min
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 ...
Nov 21, 2018•32 min
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 hop...
Oct 18, 2018•33 min
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 ri...
Sep 28, 2018•25 min
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 ...
Sep 11, 2018•30 min
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 tr...
Aug 03, 2018•29 min
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...
Jul 06, 2018•33 min
Welcome to the April 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This was the month that the Windrush scandal came to a head, so I start by focusing on the fallout from that before looking at an issue that would otherwise have led this update: more law firms in serious trouble with the regulator over their conduct of litigation. It’s not just those representing migrants who the judges took to task, though: the Home Office has been strongly criticised by the Court of Appeal for ...
Jun 08, 2018•40 min
Welcome to the March 2018 edition of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month I start on the Brexit outlook for EU citizens before turning to several immigration law issues affecting children that came to light in March. The Upper Tribunal reported a fresh batch of decisions, a couple on its jurisdiction and some more on other procedural bits and pieces. I end on a couple of cases and developments in the area of business immigration. The material is all drawn from the March 2018 ...
May 09, 2018•19 min
Housing solicitor Giles Peaker was an accomplished art historian before turning to the law at the age of 40, rising to become a partner at Anthony Gold within five years of qualification. He founded the Nearly Legal blog while still a paralegal. Initially a repository for reflections on becoming a lawyer, it is now the go-to source of commentary on housing law issues, described by Inside Housing as “a must-read for housing lawyers and the wider housing sector”. A former Chair of the Housing Law ...
May 08, 2018•22 min
