Colin Yeo and Sonia Lenegan discuss the Illegal Migration Bill. They talk through what is in it, what will it do, how is it intended to work, whether it is compatible with international law and what effects it might have in reality.
This month Sonia and I talk a bit about denaturalisation generally and the case of Shamima Begum specifically, we cover the new streamlined asylum process and a few other asylum-related blog posts and then we run through a few cases. We manage to keep things a bit shorter than normal, but watch out for our coverage of the Illegal Migration Bill, which will be available separately. The 30-minute podcast follows the running order below. Denaturalisation Security tribunal finds Shamima Begum was tr...
This month Sonia and I talk through various government policies all about being horrible to migrants. It's a seemingly inexhaustible vein. Indeed, there aren't many (any?) government immigration policies NOT about being horrible to migrants. We then move on to discuss a few different nationality law issues, including the mind-boggling case of Roehrig, which appears to have effectively denaturalised tens of thousands of British citizens at a stroke. Finally, we turn to some important but rather t...
Colin and Sonia take a look back at 2022 and ahead to 2023 as well as covering the immigration updates from December 2022. Looking back, they talk about small boat crossings, the Ukraine and Hong Kong schemes, the impact (or lack of) the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Rwanda judgment, the asylum backlog and the net migration figures. Looking to the future they cover Rishi Sunak's asylum plan, whether the Home Office can cope, the prospect of yet more legislation and the ideas for immigrat...
This month, Colin and Sonia mainly talk about an avalanche of asylum related news, law and updates. It's not all asylum, though, there's also some blog posts to go over on Comprehensive Sickness Insurance, third party support in spouse applications, marriages in durable partner cases, the opening of the citizenship route for Chagossian descendants and a Solicitor Regulation Authority report on immigration lawyers. They end by discussing a couple of opinion pieces Colin published, on whether the ...
Welcome to the October 2022 episode of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month, Colin and Sonia talk politics, asylum, the statement of changes to the immigration rules and case law. The episode is a bit longer than usual as there was a lot going on! Politics Braverman attacks modern slavery victims and student families Assessing Braverman’s legacy as Home Secretary How much influence does the media have over the hostile environment? Home Office hotels not fit to house unaccompa...
Welcome to the September 2022 episode of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month Colin is joined again by “immigration lawyer about town”, as she put it, Sonia Lenegan. She is in danger of becoming a co-presenter if she carries on like this... Amongst other things, they discuss Albanian asylum claims, age assessment, military conscription and asylum, Windrush and an important update to the guidance on good character in British citizenship applications. If you would like to claim...
Colin and Sonia have a short chat about what's going on with immigration and asylum policy right now. With Truss and No 10 saying one thing and Braverman and the Home Office saying something very different, what should we make of it all? Are we going to have more students or less? Encourage skilled workers or reduce net migration? Cut unskilled migration or expand the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme? We thought we'd separate out a general discussion about politics and policy this month from...
Welcome to episode 104 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month Colin is joined by "immigration lawyer about town", as she puts it, Sonia Lenegan. Taking pity on Colin after his solo effort last month, Sonia is the legal and policy director at Rainbow Migration, a consultant solicitor at Saltworks and a volunteer at Asylos and the Unity Project. She previously worked at Hackney Law Centre and as the legal director at the Immigration Law Practitioners Association. Our discussio...
Welcome to episode 103 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month — the first in something like five years with no CJ McKinney — I’m starting with some material on asylum and trafficking then quickly going over a bit of immigration and nationality history and why it matters today, before moving onto various bits of Home Office news and then ending with a couple off items on deportation and foreign national offenders. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material...
The immigration system has been through a lot since I started covering it for Free Movement five years ago. In September 2017, the UK was still in the two-year countdown to leaving the European Union, and there were even doubts about whether it would happen at all. The EU Settlement Scheme was still a twinkle in the Home Office's eye, and instead of the exciting post-Brexit points-based immigration system we had a boring old... points-based immigration system. But while the basic architecture of...
Welcome to episode 102 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with elements of the Borders Act 2022 coming into force before moving on to Appendix Private Life and Appendix FM. We then review the latest case law on criminal deportation, touch briefly on Zambrano applications, and conclude with Rwanda. 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 ...
Comprehensive Sickness Insurance continues to hang over the heads of many EU citizens who, over the years, were told that they needed private health coverage for their residence in the UK to be lawful. The UK government’s insistence on this was always legally controversial, but it took until after Brexit for the EU Court of Justice to rule (in a case referred to it just before the UK’s departure) that CSI was not in fact required . What are the implications of the ruling for EU citizens affected...
Welcome to episode 101 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with some great news on fees, then some updates on the new Borders Act before turning to Rwanda and asylum more broadly. We have a quick check-in on business immigration and end on the latest with detention and bail. 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 av...
In the States, they’re known as “Dreamers”. Children and young people who grow up perfectly integrated, only to find out that — through no fault of their own — they’re actually unauthorised migrants. Here in the UK, children who are British in every sense but legal can at least regularise on the basis of long residence: seven years for under-18s, or half their life for those aged 18-24 inclusive. Securing immigration status under these “private life” rules is only the beginning: they still have ...
Welcome to episode 100 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got some pretty major asylum stuff to go over plus quite a few different topics, including compensation for unlawful removal, the unending saga of the English language tests, new immigration fees, changes to work visas, a big case from the Upper Tribunal on expert evidence and a rather unusual case in the Court of Appeal on deportation. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and liste...
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 hit the statute books yesterday. The Home Office says that the Act “puts into law that those who arrive illegally in the UK – who could have claimed asylum in another safe country – can be considered as ‘inadmissible’ to the UK asylum system”, and so removed to Rwanda under plans announced just before Easter. In fact, as Jon Featonby tells me on the latest episode of the podcast, inadmissibility provisions authorising removal to Rwanda are already part of the...
Welcome to episode 99 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with statements of changes to the Immigration Rules on Ukraine, ten-year routes to settlement and the suite of new business visas. I then try not to get too cross about Comprehensive Sickness Insurance before turning to cases on small boats, the Home Office’s duty of candour (hah!) and human trafficking. We finish on the latest deprivation of citizenship statistics. If you would like to claim CPD points fo...
The Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner is changing. For one thing, there will soon be no office — or at least, not a physical one. The OISC is ditching its London headquarters and going fully remote, as well as regional. From 1 April, its staff will be assigned to a particular patch and told to get out into the community to find out what’s going on in the immigration advice world. The Immigration Services Commissioner, John Tuckett, wants a more “proactive” regulator that strikes a ...
Welcome to episode 98 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got a load of different topics to cover, from fees, investor visas and CSI to asylum, age assessments and appeals. 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 to members. You can find all the available courses here . If you listen to podcasts on your mobile...
Closing the Investor visa route to new applicants with immediate effect was necessary, the Home Secretary said this week. If potential applicants had been given a decent period of notice, it might have attracted a last-minute flood of undesirables who “may not comply with the requirements of the Immigration Rules or who may pose national security risks”. To which Sophie Barrett-Brown and Hazar El-Chamaa, my guests on the podcast this week, respond: why would you be granting visas to people who d...
Welcome to episode 97 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we cover quite a few different asylum issues, a bit on visas for social care workers, EU rights, marriages of convenience and finishing on the hot topic of citizenship deprivation. 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 to members. You can find all the avail...
One of the Home Secretary’s more startling powers is to take people’s British citizenship away where they acquired it by fraud or it is “conducive to the public good”. In the latter case, losing citizenship often amounts to exile in the interests of national security: the tactic is to wait until the person is abroad before making the deprivation order. Under the Nationality and Borders Bill, the person need not be told about the order at all. The Home Office tells us that this power is used “spa...
Welcome to episode 96 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’re covering December 2021 and we’ll go over some EU rights issues, a bit on deportation, a bit on asylum, touch on human rights and address some fascinating procedural issues of 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. There are now over 100 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the ...
Welcome to episode 95 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we cover some developments on EU citizens’ rights, several cases on immigration appeals, the latest work visa statistics, and then a few court and tribunal judgments on asylum, human trafficking and deportation. Our thanks to Iain Halliday who ably stands in for Colin this month. 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. The...
Welcome to episode 94 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we kick off with some human rights developments and some fairly consistently good news on asylum (which is nice for a change). There are quite a few business immigration issues to run over quickly before we turn to developments in the English Channel and the international law of the sea for a nice, depressing ending… If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign ...
People being persecuted on account of their sexual orientation can seek asylum in the UK, but face having to convince the Home Office that they are in fact lesbian, gay or bisexual. While asylum seekers are no longer quizzed about Oscar Wilde, more subtle forms of stereotyping persist. Decision-makers can demand of all LGBTQI+ asylum seekers a narrative that only some can provide: feelings of shame, stigma and difference, and a sort of emotional journey towards understanding their sexuality. On ...
Welcome to episode 93 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast, a week later than advertised. This month we start with changes to the Immigration Rules and other news around work and student visas, and then the latest on deprivation of citizenship. We review some new case law on asylum, talk about why the Home Office is now conceding so many appeals, before ending on EU citizens’ rights and the inevitable coronavirus material. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material...
A woman went back to her husband who had previously been violent to her, and it was at least partly because she couldn’t find anyone to make her application for indefinite leave to remain under the domestic violence rules within the timescale required, and she panicked and went back him. So that means that a rule that’s expressly there to protect people from serious harm was left ineffective because of the lack of access to immigration advice. But it is less visible than in the criminal justice ...
Welcome to episode 92 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we begin with EU citizens’ rights before moving to a couple of cases on Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights as it applies to migrants. We then discuss asylum, including a disappointing Supreme Court decision on age assessment, before concluding with the latest on immigration appeals. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this podcast, sign up here as a Free...
