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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 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 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 downloadable 36-minute podcast follows the running order below. Timestamps indicate when a part

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. 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 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 downloadable

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 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 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

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 the podcast this month I hear from Katherine Soroya and Allan Briddock about what the Home Office expects from gay refugees and the problems that can cause for people who don’t fit the description. While there’s plenty to criticise, there’s also reason for cautious optimism, given the rising success rate of asylum claims involving sexual orientation.

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 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 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 acce

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 system. In criminal work, the trial gets listed and then it gets postponed. Here in immigration and asylum, it’s more that the application never gets made. As Dr Jo Wilding tells me on the podcast this week, there are all sorts of problems with the provision of advice to migrants about their legal rights. The consequences are often next to invisible, but no less dire for all that: my other guest, Naomi Blackwell of Jesuit Refugee Service UK, recalls meeting a man in immigration detention who had no

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 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 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

The UK’s emergency evacuation of Afghan civilians ends today, ahead of the 31 August deadline for the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan. Where does that leave Afghans hoping to escape the Taliban for safety in Britain? That’s the subject of this episode, in which I’m joined by two lawyers with extensive experience in this area: Jamie Bell of Duncan Lewis Solicitors and Sarah Pinder of Goldsmith Chambers.   We discuss the two existing resettlement programmes for Afghans with ties to the British government; what we know about the additional Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme announced on 18 August (not much); and what happens to those already in the UK with pending asylum cases (the Home Office is adopting a “wait and see approach”, for now, with a pause on decision-making). As ever, once more information emerges on the issues that remain uncertain, we’ll cover it on the website and/or the weekly newsletter. 

Welcome to episode 91 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we begin with a Supreme Court decision on deportation and some developments on immigration judicial reviews. We then move to business immigration, where a new type of visa has just been announced, and then off in the other direction completely to cover asylum and refugee issues. We end with a couple of court decisions on deception and long residence. Note that we are not covering the Immigration Bill published in July, as we did a separate podcast on that a couple of weeks ago. 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&nb

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 group” in domestic asylum law * Advance warning of removal from the UK * Human trafficking claims made in “bad faith” * Existing immigration legislation, which may be consolidated For much more on all things Borders Bill, see our recent series of briefings on each Part: * Part 1 (citizenship reforms) * Part 2 (

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 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 Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing h

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, also required before 1 July; people who haven’t applied by then will invariably run into the hostile environment. What happens to those people is the subject of this podcast. Chris Benn from Seraphus, as ever our indispensable guide to all things Settlement Scheme, has the latest word on what EU residents can expect if not among the 5 mil

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 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 Movement. Using a mobile device

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, as well as the recent changes to policy on detention of potential victims and the widely criticised trafficking proposals in the government’s New Plan for Immigration.

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 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 downloadable 22

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 recent times. Listen to the podcast in your browser above or search for us on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you get your audio. PS: The presenters of all the other podcasts I listen to are forever asking for listeners to give the show a rating, and while I have no idea how to do that, some people have obviously figured it out because we have 4.6 s

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 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 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

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 Wedderburn, one of our regular contributors and the author of a new Free Movement training course on the immigration offences.

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 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 via iTunes here, Stitcher here or point your podcast

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 the point, and hard to spot amid the general reorganisation, the substance of many of the rules has also been changed — in many cases to make it easier to dish out a refusal. That’s the subject of this episode of the podcast. I spoke to Alex Piletska from Turpin Miller, who has been painstakingly working through all the changes to bring our OISC t