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September brought us a new Home Secretary who immediately made some inaccurate comments about “last minute” legal challenges to removal and the modern slavery identification system, so Sonia looked at those in this month’s podcast. Sonia also covered the final act of the previous Home Secretary, which was the closure of the refugee family reunion route. Refugees do still haveother options, but with a lot more hurdles and delays in place. Barry discussed the case of the Palestinian refugee wherethe Home Office withdrew the refusal of his asylum claim the day before the appeal hearing indicating that refugee status would be granted, only to refuse it again following publicity of the case – prompting a further legal battle. Barry also looked at changes to the early removal scheme for foreign national offenders, as well as the case of an ill-advised use of AI by an immigration barrister that led to a referral to the Bar Standards Board. All this and much more!Reminder – if you want to book any of our upcoming tra

Let's face it, August was a rough one and hopefully most of you managed to escape it for a summer holiday at some point, in which case you definitely need Sonia and Barry to help catch you up! The UK announced its new arrangements to return people arriving across the Channel to France, hotels used as asylum accommodation hit the headlines as far right protests hit the streets, and the latest immigration and asylum statistics were out - with some notable omissions. In addition to this, Barry covers an unsuccessful attempt by the Daily Mail to publish the personal details of a woman who lacks mental capacity as well as a new registration process for Irish citizens to become British.Barry also covers the very sad case of a woman who was unsuccessful in her challenge to a refusal of indefinite leave to remain. Sonia highlights an unreported but useful case on public order disqualifications in trafficking claims, an essential read for anyone working on those cases. She also looks at an important change to prac

July was actually a fairly busy month! Join Sonia and Barry as they run you through what happened, including the changes to the skilled worker route, everything that happened on Afghan resettlement, recent changes to the EU Settlement Scheme and the latest instalment in a far too long running Palestinian case. An article from BID flagging up a really important change being proposed to cautions got a huge number of views and has hopefully helped to raise awareness.Other cases included one involving a questionable practice by the Home Office relating to people in prison, a successful challenge to a sponsor licence revocation. Barry and Sonia also discussed the wisdom of civil penalty appeals, the latest on climate change litigation and an important update for anyone filing judicial reviews in the Administrative Court. That's not even all of it!The 43 minute long podcast follows the running order below:Statement of changes (00:50)Afghan scheme closed immediately and major changes to skilled worker route – st

Time for your June round up of all things Free Movement - and Barry is back! In this month's episode both Sonia and Barry divulge some rather niche interests, while discussing the second latest (!!) statement of changes, the Migration Advisory Committee's review into the minimum income requirement, the legal aid crisis (the increase was announced the day of recording) and impact on the tribunals. They also looked at difficulties for both Afghan women and Ukrainians seeking protection in the UK. Cases included a mystifying decision by some legal representatives to ignore a helpful email from the Home Office, some guidance on bringing Cart judicial reviews under the new restrictions, a certificate of travel refusal and more!The 37 minute long podcast follows the running order below:Statement of changes (01:30)Statement of changes: HC 836 sees changes to permitted absences for EU Settlement SchemeAsylum (02:40)The Home Office is refusing Ukrainians’ protection claims and telling them to leave the UKLegal

May is over and the immigration white paper has finally been published, so Sonia spends a bit of time at the beginning of this month's podcast reliving the horrors of that. Andrew covers a very wide range of topics in this episode, from deprivation of citizenship to "self sponsorship" to deportation of EU nationals to visitors. Sonia goes on (yet another) rant about eVisas. If there is a potential audience for Andrew's offer of a ten hour podcast purely listing eVisa complaints then do let us know and we'll consider it! All this and much more. The 45 minute long podcast follows the running order below:Immigration white paper (00:52)The immigration white paper has been publishedWhat does the immigration white paper say about workers and students?What does the immigration white paper say about family, deportation and other areas?Immigration white paper impacts on the Higher Education sector and international studentsImmigration white paper – the case for optimism and what sponsors should doPoints based system (

It was a relatively quiet April ahead of what looks to be a busy May. Sonia is joined by Andrew again this month. Sonia runs through the amendments made at committee stage of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration one and despaired over the lack of attention given to the case where the UK detained a Brazilian tourist for eight weeks. Andrew looks at Asylum Aid's successful statelessness challenge as well as a really interesting piece on discrimination against non-EEA nationals with pre-settled status. There were also lots of case updates, including on fee waivers in indefinite leave applications, successful and unsuccessful skilled worker cases, and much more!The following posts were covered in this episode:What amendments have been made to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill?Asylum (03:45)New Iran country policy and information note on social media, surveillance and sur place activities First-tier Tribunal wrong to allow appeal based on a grant of humanitarian protection that did not ex

This month Barry is away and so his colleague Andrew Jones has stepped up and stepped in to co-host with Sonia, and frankly made it all look rather easy. March was a busy one, and Sonia and Andrew rattled through a lot. There were some big decisions in the asylum world, including Wethersfield and an important one on asylum support and withdrawals. Sonia attempted to explain an incredibly complex trafficking case in under 60 seconds and gave Andrew the two most depressing cases of the month, one involving the ongoing separation of a family in the UK and France and another where a man won his spouse appeal, but only after his spouse had died.It was statistics galore with the 2024 figures now out for both for trafficking cases and the tribunals. There was also a statement of changes last month, along with some fee increases taking effect in April that practitioners should be aware of. We also covered the latest deprivation decision, this one from the Supreme Court. That’s not even all of it!Asylum (01:05)High Co

The February podcast is here! We kick off with Sonia briefly summarising the recently published statistics for 2024. There was then a lot to cover on asylum with several case updates and of course the recent Home Office changes to the good character requirements. Barry was thrilled to be able to discuss his favourite section of the British Nationality Act 1981 as well as getting to cover Alex Piletska’s “highly entertaining” housesitting piece. All that and much more!General immigration (01:00)Health and care worker visas and asylum grant rates both plummeted in 2024 according to latest statistics  Asylum (03:15)High Court upholds award of £98,757 damages to refugee Home Secretary’s decision on national security is sufficient to revoke refugee status Upper Tribunal dismisses judicial review in case of parents seeking to reunite with young children  High Court provides guidance on interaction between Schedule 10 accommodation and Care Act duties Who is eligible and how to apply to the Ukraine Permission Extens

Sonia and Barry are back already to celebrate the end of January! There is a brief look back at 2024 and look forward to 2025 which of course now includes the new Bill (seriously what are we calling this thing for short? BSAIB just doesn't work, as Barry ably demonstrates). Sonia and Barry cover two of the recent Court of Appeal deprivation cases, as well as Asylum Aid's recent statelessness challenge and a recent decision on children separated from their parents during a Channel crossing. Sonia also covered a few trafficking updates and made a plea for one final effort on legal aid as the final consultation opens. There are new briefings and case updates on work routes as well as interesting one on urgent removals. Barry finishes off with a look at Manston and the recent judicial review forcing a proper inquiry into what happened at the centre. The 41 minute podcast follows the running order below: Immigration news (00:30) Free Movement review of the year 2024 Border Security, Asylum and Immigr

It’s goodbye to 2024 in this month’s podcast, with Sonia and Barry wrapping up December. They spend a bit of time discussing eVisas at the beginning of the podcast, before moving on to asylum and trafficking where issues around the quality of decision making have been raised in a couple of different posts. Barry covered two Court of Appeal decisions on the EU Settlement Scheme as well as an Upper Tribunal decision on deportation of EU nationals. Sonia discussed OISC’s name change and suggests that time and money might have been better spent on resolving the various issues with the new online portal. All that and much more! The 46 minute long podcast follows the running order below:  eVisas (00:40) eVisas and the hostile environment: a disaster waiting to happen Home Office minister makes statement on eVisas Asylum (13:10) Briefing: current problems in the UK asylum system and how to address them Migrant Help: now more helpful? Court of Appeal dismisses Iranian asylum appeal Afghan family to have applicati

Barry returns and joins Sonia to run you through November on Free Movement. It was statistics galore for Sonia who covered the latest immigration, asylum and trafficking figures. A surprise statement of changes contained bad news for Colombians and Ukrainians. Barry was a really big fan of Colin's review of the latest Paddington movie and enthusiastically endorsed Alex Piletska's suggestion that the referee requirement for citizenship applications is scrapped. There were also several cases covered, including a detailed explanation from Sonia of the implications of the latest challenge to the no recourse to public funds policy. Full details of all the posts we covered can be found below. The 50 minute podcast follows the running order below: General immigration (00:40) Statistics for July to September 2024 show health and care worker and student numbers continuing to fall Safe options for Ukrainians and Colombians coming to the UK shut down in latest statement of changes   Asylum (03:50) Appeals lodged in

Colin's back! But for how long? All is revealed in our October roundup podcast. Plus Sonia and Colin discuss hot topics such as the new practice direction for appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, appeals backlogs, issues in asylum interviews and reaccreditation for the Law Society's immigration and asylum scheme. We also cover the latest Supreme Court decision on the best interests of children, a case involving some serious administrative failings at the Court of Appeal, climate change and refugees and the latest inspection report from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration. On work routes we cover posts explaining which routes can lead to settlement, the latest round of litigation on care home sponsor licence revocation and whether the skilled worker pay thresholds create an equal pay issue. All this and much more (and no politics!). The 38 minute podcast follows the running order below: Procedure (01:30) New Practice Direction of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tri

In this episode of the podcast Barry does everyone a big favour by taking us through the autumn statement of changes in detail. Sonia and Barry also have a bit of a call to arms on discretionary grants of indefinite leave to remain and tackling the ten year route. The importance of scrutinising country policy and information notes in asylum claims is covered over a few different articles. Barry goes through the minefield of travelling with leave under Appendix EUSS or a pending application, as well as the additional powers given to Border Force officials to cancel leave granted under Appendix EUSS at the border. Sonia really really doesn't want people to abuse the fee waiver process. We also cover Windrush and freedom of information requests, a successful Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) judicial review, the latest on biometric residence permits and eVisas, and more. We finish up with a look at the recent legal aid challenge and what the next steps look like there. The hour long podcast follows the running order below

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 b

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 H

Here is your June round up of Free Movement. In this episode Colin and Sonia discuss why the Illegal Migration Act should be repealed, an appalling decision on trafficking delays, a much better decision on section 3C leave, the raised standard of proof in asylum claims, one and a bit cases on challenging judicial behaviour, the latest care home revocation case and much much more. By popular (?) demand, we finish with a chat about the general election. The 39 minute podcast follows the running order below: Asylum (00:40) Briefing: four problems in the UK asylum system and how to address them Almost four year delay in deciding trafficking claim held to be lawful by High Court The new, higher standard of proof doesn’t apply to human rights claims Kent County Council cannot avoid its duty to find placements for unaccompanied asylum seeking children   Procedure (13:10) Court of Appeal rejects claim that hearing was unfair because tribunal judge asked too many questions Home Secretary’s failure to provide dig

In this podcast Sonia discusses Kalayaan's new report "12 years of modern slavery" with Avril Sharp, immigration lawyer and policy officer. The report looks at the history of the overseas domestic worker visa, and the harmful changes that have made. They also discuss the impact of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, delays within the National Referral Mechanism system for identifying survivors of trafficking and modern slavery, the experiences of those within the system, similarities with other "tied" visa routes and changes that need to be made to protect domestic workers.

Here is your May round up of Free Movement. In this episode Colin and Sonia look at the latest immigration, asylum and trafficking statistics, including discussion of the fee waiver backlog. They also cover the latest on “safe and legal” routes for those in Afghanistan and Gaza. Sonia nerds it up over archived Home Office guidance and we cover several new cases. The episode ends with a discussion of the upcoming general election and some hopes (and some lack of hope) for a new government. The 35 minute podcast follows the running order below:   Asylum (00:20) Home Office statistics link drop in asylum grant rate to Nationality and Borders Act 2022 Trafficking statistics show positive decisions by the immigration enforcement competent authority are at a record low Inspection report on Afghan resettlement schemes reveals another secret pause on processing cases Upper Tribunal finds guidance for those unable to travel from Gaza to enrol biometrics is unlawful Asylum seekers on Diego Garcia granted bail to a

In the April roundup Colin and Sonia cover the new Rwanda Act and the process for sending a person to Rwanda, challenges to the use of the inadmissibility process, the government's response to the increase in arrivals of Vietnamese nationals and the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration's report into deprivation of British Citizenship. We also look at cases including the man with indefinite leave to remain who has been prevented from returning to the UK for over 15 due to a Home Office error, a complex EU deportation decision, a case involving children separated from families during the evacuation of Kabul and many others. The 48 minute podcast follows the running order below: Asylum (00:20) Briefing: Safety of Rwanda Act – what happens now? How to get clients out of inadmissibility limbo and into the asylum system Upper Tribunal gives guidance on assessing well-founded fear under the Nationality and Borders Act Person with indefinite leave unable to return to the UK for over 15

In the March roundup, Sonia and Colin discuss the latest with Albanian cases as uncovered in the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration's report on asylum casework. We cover articles looking at recent changes to the Ukraine schemes, as well as a reminder of the existence of Hamid cases and how to avoid being on the receiving end of a telling off from the High Court. We also recap the recent telling off that Swift J gave the government legal department, changes to work routes, costs in SIAC reviews, GPS tagging, deportation of stateless people and much more! The 32 minute podcast follows the running order below: Asylum (00:32) Asylum casework inspection report reveals mishandling of cases, secret ministerial directions How to effectively represent Albanian people seeking asylum in an increasingly difficult environment How the changes to the Ukraine Schemes will make it more difficult for Ukrainians to come to the UK – and why they should be cancelled   Procedural (08:40) Two Hamid re