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Welcome to episode 85 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast (not in fact episode 84 as we incorrectly say in the intro). 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 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 player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the adva

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 Daltrey. The visa problem cuts both ways: it’s also harder for European musicians to play on this side of the pond, and since UK immigration law is what we know, in this podcast we look at the situation that way round. Solicitor Gemma Tracey of Latitude Law walks us through the various options for EU musicians coming to the UK post-Brexit, which are as fo

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 Home Office plan for dealing with all this case law: stop it happening in the first place by ratcheting tight access to the Court of Appeal. CJ is also going to give a mention to a couple of blog posts on the Skilled Worker visa and the minimum income rule at the very end. Phew. If you would like to claim CPD points for reading the mate

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 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 player to the po

You don’t have to be British to work here, but it helps. Citizens of the 54 Commonwealth countries can serve in the British Army and other branches of the armed forces, and are eligible to settle in the UK after discharge if they have served for at least four years. But settlement isn’t automatic, and over the years too many have ended up without the immigration status they were promised. While the situation has improved in recent years, the sheer cost of indefinite leave to remain — £2,389, or around £10,000 for a family of four — means that some remain frozen out despite policies designed to help them.  On 1 December 2020, the High Court will hear argument on behalf of eight Fijian ex-servicemen trying to get justice without being shaken down for the privilege. They’re represented by Vinita Templeton of Duncan Lewis Solicitors, our guest on the podcast this month. I asked Vinita about the minimum income rule that continues to affect serving soldiers, about the linked issues of

Welcome to episode 82 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we mostly focus on a host of changes to the Immigration Rules introduced in October and mainly coming into force in December. There are also some big cases on long residence, removal windows, deportation law and fairness in sponsored worker cases, and we’re also going to talk about EU citizens and naturalisation. 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 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

Lawyers have spent much of this year fighting off controversial changes to legal aid for immigration appeals. In May, the government brought in adjusted legal aid arrangements for cases lodged under a new online appeal system — arrangements that spelled doom for an already under-pressure sector. I spoke to Sonia Lenegan from the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association about the legal action that defeated those proposals, the system that’s been put in place instead, and how things are looking for legal aid lawyers more generally.

Welcome to episode 81 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we kick off with a big ruling on deportation law before turning to some draft laws affecting EU citizens in the UK. The visa rules for students changed on 5 October, so we discuss those tweaks before moving to economic migration and the elusive Immigration Health Surcharge rise. We finish with some judgments on asylum and immigration detention.   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 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

“Don’t panic!” is Tom Brett Young’s message to his education sector clients. Revised student visa rules kick in next month, replacing the Tier 4 routes beloved of known to immigration lawyers since 2009. Thankfully, the VWV partner reckons it’s more evolution than revolution, with the system of student sponsorship remaining broadly familiar. Although with students from EU countries now needing visas, schools and unis have quite enough upheaval to contend with as it is. In this podcast, Tom and I talk through the new student migration rules that kick in from 5 October: where to find them, what they change and what they don’t. Some — but not all — of the details we touch on are covered in Nath’s recent article on the subject. To stay abreast of developments in business and student migration as the government continues to roll out its “new Points-Based Immigration System”, sign up for Free Movement email alerts and select the “business̶

Welcome to episode 80 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with the EU Settlement Scheme before turning to a couple of cases at the intersection of immigration law and family law. With the slow down in the court system, there wasn’t a whole lot of case law this month, so we take a detour via domestic abuse and sponsor licensing before getting back to the courts with a few cases on procedure and compensation for delay. To round off, there’s a couple of positive developments on legal aid and leave to remain for people falsely accused of cheating on their English test. 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. With the end of the CPD year approaching, it’s worth mentioning we have three new training courses already available — on Tier 2 visas, in

Commercial surrogacy — paying someone else to carry and give birth to your child — is banned in the UK, but available overseas. That allows couples and individuals who would otherwise be unable to have children to experience the miracle of life with the aid of a third party. It’s a fraught process, and getting the resulting baby a visa may not be at the forefront of the intended parents’ minds. It may, however, be necessary. A child born to a surrogate abroad will not be automatically entitled to come straight back to the UK, even if the intended parents are both British themselves. It depends on who the child’s legal parents are at the point of birth and what nationality that leaves the child with. The child may be British, or entitled to be registered as British, or entitled to the passport of the country of birth, or able to get entry clearance under a special surrogacy policy, or… Enter Karma Hickman, who has seen her share of complicated surrogacy cases and disentangl

Welcome to episode 79 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we’re starting with a few asylum decisions, then talk a little about the Shamima Begum case and go over the latest on coronavirus immigration changes. We look at the Hong Kong BNO visa, mention a couple of things about immigration detention and access to benefits, and end with some rather disparate tribunal and procedural cases.  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 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 im

The representative of an overseas business visa wasn’t mentioned once in the government’s blueprint for a new immigration system, but that doesn’t mean it’s going anywhere. Or at least we hope not; as Joanna Hunt tells me in this podcast, stranger things have happened in immigration law. We mostly proceed on the assumption this route has life in it yet and that, as an immigration lawyer, you need to know about it. Jo explains what the representative of an overseas business visa is, why it’s sometimes called the “sole rep” route, what the requirements are and why it’s often trickier than other work-based routes. We also touch on recent changes to the route in May 2020, which saw the Home Office give itself more powers to refuse this kind of visa application for fear that independent businesspeople are trying to use it instead of the bungled Innovator route. The discussion is partly based on Jo’s recent article on the subject, What is a representative of an overs

Welcome to episode 78 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we start with some general discussion about the immigration system and my new book, Welcome to Britain, move on to cover a couple of deportation cases and then look at some material on appeals, asylum, family immigration and EU law. We end with a reminder on refunds for the Immigration Health Surcharge for NHS and social care workers. 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 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 imm

In this bumper bonus episode, Free Movement editor Colin Yeo is interviewed by Satbir Singh, chief executive of the migrants’ rights charity JCWI. The subject of the interview is of course Colin’s book, published on 29 June 2020.  Welcome to Britain: Fixing Our Broken Immigration System explains the workings and non-workings of the immigration system to the general public. You can read a detailed overview of the contents here. To mark publication day, Satbir kindly agreed to host a lockdown-approved launch event over Zoom to talk about the themes of the book and to put some questions to Colin from Free Movement readers. The interview is also available on our YouTube channel if you would like to see Colin’s and Satbir’s splendid lockdown beards in their full glory.

To be allowed into the UK as a visitor, border officials must be satisfied that you are a “genuine visitor”. One warning sign is “frequent and successive visits”, which may indicate that you are making the UK your “main home”. What there isn’t is a hard and fast rule that a visitor can’t be in the UK for more than six months in total in any 12-month period. Home Office guidance says: There is no specified maximum period which an individual can spend in the UK in any period such as ‘6 months in 12 months’. However, if it is clear from an individual’s travel history that they are making the UK their home you should refuse their application. In this podcast, John Vassiliou of McGill & Co talks about the significance of this aspect of the visitor rules. He tells me that, even though frequent visitors don’t need to obsess about going over a six-month total, it’s still worth keeping tabs on your cumulative length of time in the UK. The discussion is

Welcome to episode 77 of the Free Movement immigration update podcast. This month we cover a number of positive court decisions on Article 3, no recourse to public funds and immigration fees. We then mention the main coronavirus updates before turning to a few bits and pieces from EU law and some important asylum updates. British nationality law and policy also gets a mention, as do some changes to the Immigration Rules that came into force on 4 June. 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 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.

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 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 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 previo

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 Bill. 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 player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new

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 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 player to the podcast feed for Free Movement. Using a mobile device and subscribing has the advantage that each new podcast can be automatically download