The Nationality and Borders Bill 2021 looks set to sail through Parliament, passing its second reading stage in the House of Commons this week by 101 votes. The headline provisions of the Bill are by now well known — indeed, notorious — so we’re not going to spend this episode rehearsing the various ways in which it tries to make life more difficult for asylum seekers. Instead, we’ve picked out some of the less high-profile elements that have received less scrutiny to date. Colin himself joins me for this episode. We discuss the Bill’s proposed changes to: The rules on citizenship for stateless children The definition of a “particular social...

Free Movement

Podcast: five things you may have missed in the Borders Bill

Welcome to episode 90 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. We’re covering June 2021, which feels a little unreal given the Nationality and Borders Bill had landed shortly before we were due to record. But life goes on, and we’ve got a few points about the EU Settlement Scheme to cover; a couple of cases on family immigration and one on long residence; several asylum issues; a couple of deportation cases to touch on; and a couple of cases in which the Court of Appeal schools the immigration tribunal in how to do its job. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening...

Immigration update podcast, episode 90

Brexit begins on 1 July. From that date, “hostile environment” checks apply to EU citizens in earnest. It will no longer be possible to satisfy an immigration status check — for benefits, employment or a tenancy — by flashing an EU passport. Instead, as Home Office guidance puts it, EU nationals “will be required to provide evidence of lawful immigration status in the UK, in the same way as other foreign nationals”. For those living in the UK before the end of 2020, evidence of lawful immigration status is likely to mean pre-settled or status granted under the EU Settlement Scheme. Applications to that scheme are, for the most part,...

Podcast: deadline day

Welcome to episode 89 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month is a bit of a bumper episode, so we may hurry through some updates to keep it a manageable length, but you can read more about each item at the links below. We start with a couple of rather concerning court cases involving massive Home Office delays before turning to immigration policy. We’re then off to the Upper Tribunal to discuss a series of new decisions on family migration and the conduct of immigration appeals, before ending with a couple of quick coronavirus updates. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and...

Immigration update podcast, episode 89

Last year over 10,000 people were identified as possible victims of human trafficking or modern slavery, around two thirds of whom were foreign nationals from places like Albania, Sudan and Vietnam. That’s just a drop in the ocean, given that an estimated 100,000 victims are out there at any one time. Nevertheless, the existence of a support system for victims can provide exploited migrants with important rights — so naturally the government is keen to reduce the number of people helped by it. In this podcast I talk to Maya Esslemont about her work with After Exploitation, which tries to dig out proper data on what happens to trafficking survivors,...

Podcast: how not to support victims of human trafficking

Welcome to episode 88 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’ve got quite a few different subjects to cover, including some detention issues, the EU Settlement Scheme — for which the deadline is now rapidly approaching — and British nationality 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 available courses here. If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or by pointing your podcast player to the podcast feed for Free...

Immigration update podcast, episode 88

Do you know your PG (Jamaica) from your HA (Iraq)? Our coverage of deportation decisions over the past few years has felt non-stop, with the courts pumping out judgments sending the law in different directions. In particular, the legal test for when deportation will be “unduly harsh” on family members left behind has been subject to intense, and often contradictory, judicial analysis. Thankfully, things have now settled down a bit, so it’s a good time to take stock of where we’re at with the “unduly harsh” test in 2021. I spoke to Nick Nason of Edgewater Legal, who has written up all the big deportation cases for Free Movement in...

Podcast: when is deportation “unduly harsh”?

Welcome to episode 87 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’re covering two main sets of reform proposals, the New Plan for Immigration and changes to judicial review. We’ve also got a bunch of new Immigration Rules to mention, a handful of interesting cases and a proposed new code of conduct for Presenting Officers, the officials who represent the Home Office in 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 Movement member. There are now over 100 CPD hours of training materials available to members. You can find all the available courses here. If...

Immigration update podcast, episode 87

The statute book is crammed with criminal offences relating to borders and immigration control, from entering the UK illegally to renting property to an unauthorised migrant. Most are rarely prosecuted, with an average of 625 prosecutions a year between 2017 and 2019. But many convictions are high-profile, with a steady stream of people being jailed for “assisting unlawful immigration” by piloting small boats across the Channel. The Home Office also announced this week proposals to increase the maximum sentences for the main immigration offences. So will criminal prosecutions increasingly become a mainstream tool of immigration control? On this episode of the podcast I speak to John Vassiliou from Shepherd and...

Podcast: immigration and the criminal law

Welcome to episode 86 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. There were quite a lot of significant court judgments this month, so the episode is almost entirely case law. We start with the Supreme Court decision in the Shamima Begum case (where else) and the Court of Appeal judgment on child registration fees. We then proceed through other cases on immigration detention, human rights, asylum and deportation, and finally a couple of judgments on highly technical but important general immigration matters. For a treat at the end, we discuss a useful new report on reform of immigration enforcement and the hostile environment. If you would like to claim CPD...

Immigration update podcast, episode 86

Part 9 of the Immigration Rules consists of a long list of reasons why someone can be refused permission to enter or stay in the UK. These are known as the “general grounds for refusal”. Part 9 was recently overhauled, with the Home Office simultaneously making cosmetic and substantive changes to the general grounds. On the cosmetic side, the existing rules have been rewritten and restructured. (The word “general’ no longer appears in the title to Part 9, for one thing, so my terminology is already out of date.) Gone are the familiar reference points for lawyers: paragraph 320, paragraph 322(5) and all the rest of it. But more to...

Podcast: the new-look grounds for refusal

Welcome to episode 84 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. We again start with developments in asylum law before going to business immigration and the Hong Kong BNO visa which is now open for applications. There is also an interesting tribunal decision on long residence to go over and we end with a quick discussion of the hostile environment, giving me a chance to subtly plug my new academic article on the subject. 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...

Immigration update podcast, episode 84

In 2019, Roger Daltrey of The Who swore at a reporter who asked him about Brexit. “What’s it got to do with the rock business?”, the veteran singer scoffed. “As if we didn’t tour in Europe before the ******* EU”. The end of free movement for workers has a fair bit to do with the ******* EU. British artists are upset that the Brexit trade deal contained no meaningful replacement, leaving them to comb through European work permit laws country-by-country to work out where a visa is required. An open letter protesting to the government has been signed by over 100 stars, including Ed Sheeran, Elton John — and Roger...

Podcast: visa options for musicians touring the UK

Welcome to episode 84 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. We’re going over what happened in December 2020, which feels a bit like it was asylum month: we’ve got some very important changes to the Immigration Rules on claiming asylum and safe third countries; an interesting case on military service and refugee status; a big case on asylum accommodation delays; a report on the UK statelessness procedure; not one but two cases on the treatment of trafficking victims; and a slightly odd Scottish case on how country guidance cases work. We’ve also going to cover the right to benefits for EU citizens with pre-settled status, deportation and the latest...

Welcome to episode 83 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. It’s a case-law heavy episode, with lots of judgments from the immigration tribunal, Court of Appeal and even the European Court of Human Rights to chew on. We also talk about a potentially important new policy on deporting people who arrived in the UK as young children, legal preparations for Brexit and of course the new Immigration Act. For discussion of recent changes to economic migration routes under the Points Based Immigration System, see the previous episode or our brand new training course. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the material and listening to this...

Immigration update podcast, episode 83

Updates and comment on UK immigration law

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