Home Office has no power to vary High Court bail conditions
By Alex Schymyck
In R (BVN) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 1159 (Admin) the High Court has confirmed that the Secretary of State has no power to interfere with the conditions attached to a grant of High Court bail. It is an unusual issue and the judgment contains some rare analysis of the distinction between High Court bail and interim relief in unlawful detention proceedings. There is also a potential practical benefit to foreign national offenders seeking release from immigration detention without an electronic tag. The lesser-spotted High Court bail Once a detainee has brought an unlawful detention claim and persuaded a judge they should be released at…
Deprivation of citizenship has legal effect even if later withdrawn
By Bilaal Shabbir
When the Home Office withdraws a decision to deprive someone of their British citizenship, does the person get their citizenship back (prospective) or was it never lost in the first place (retroactive)? This was the deceptively simple question that the High Court grappled with in E3 & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 1133 (Admin), eventually concluding that the effect of withdrawal is prospective only. Incorrect citizenship deprivation decision by Home Secretary, which was later withdrawn, still means man’s daughter, who was born in the meantime, is not British. Very serious consequences for entirely blameless child. https://t.co/kCHYUyqWrw — Colin Yeo (@ColinYeo1) May 16, 2022 In…
End of the AM (Zimbabwe) saga? Tribunal returns to Article 3 medical cases
By Miranda Butler
Practitioners will no doubt be aware of the Supreme Court’s decision in AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 17. The justices endorsed the European Court of Human Rights decision in Paposhvili v Belgium (application no. 41738/10) and thereby materially lowered the threshold for resisting removal under Article 3 of the European Convention on the basis of serious ill-health. Despite his success on the law in the Supreme Court, AM’s individual case was remitted to the Upper Tribunal for fresh consideration applying the newly-articulated principles. Some nine years after he first challenged his removal from the UK, AM’s claim has now been dismissed. The judgment…
Job ad: immigration solicitor and immigration consultant, Truth Legal
By Free Movement
Thriving Immigration Department Seeks Additions to Support Continued Growth and Success Vacancies: Immigration Solicitor and Immigration Consultant About Us Based in Leeds and Harrogate, Truth Legal prides itself on being an ethical and affordable law firm committed to the care and wellbeing of clients and staff alike. As a new member of the Immigration Department, you’ll be joining a close-knit, supportive and ambitious team on an upward trajectory, with excellent opportunity for your own career progression. We hope to obtain a Legal Aid contract in the next few years. About You Above all, you will have a genuine interest in all-things immigration, and be motivated by a wish to help…
EU citizens’ rights group launches CSI Justice campaign
By CJ McKinney
Campaigners are pursuing compensation for EU citizens wrongly found to be unlawfully resident for lack of private health insurance. The CSI Justice campaign, launched by lobby group the3million, follows the recent Court of Justice ruling that EU nationals did not need Comprehensive Sickness Insurance to be legally resident in the UK as students or self-sufficient. The Home Office and UK courts had always insisted that they did, despite having the right to use the NHS. Consequences of failing the supposed CSI requirement included denial of benefits, inability to qualify for citizenship and permanent residence, and even removal from the UK. The campaign is “supporting people to pursue justice and explore…
Ukraine Advice Project
By CJ McKinney
Many readers will know that I was helping with the new Ukraine Advice Project for much of March. The UAP (as we inevitably refer to it amongst ourselves) is really a mass mobilisation of UK immigration lawyers to give pro bono advice directly to people fleeing the war in Ukraine and wanting to come legally to the UK. The organisers were just a conduit to 500+ volunteer barristers, solicitors and OISC advisers who have been giving their time with remarkable generosity. We have yet to properly thank everybody who assisted behind the scenes with the project in those frantic early days after the invasion, but Colin effectively seconded me from…
Revised rules for First-tier Tribunal appeals
By Free Movement
There is a new Practice Direction and a new Practice Statement for the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Both were published yesterday and replace previous versions that applied to both the First-tier and Upper immigration tribunals. The Practice Direction has rules about: Online appeals Case management hearings Adjournments Witness statements Expert evidence Child and vulnerable witnesses Citing unreported decisions Starred/country guidance decisions Bail applications Delegating to tribunal lawyers Hearing transcripts/recordings Judges’ formal titles The Practice Statement covers many of the same issues but in more detail. In particular, it includes several annexes on the format and deadlines for documents in: An online appeal on the MyHMCTS platform (Annex A)…
Dishonesty is not a “precedent fact” issue in a judicial review
By Alex Piletska
This was the unsurprising finding of the Upper Tribunal in R (Ashrafuzzaman) v Entry Clearance Officer (precedent fact; general grounds refusal) [2022] UKUT 133 (IAC). The exception is where human rights are involved (more on that later). Although the case concerned a refusal under the old paragraph 320(7A), the findings apply equally to the current version of the general grounds of refusal in Part 9 of the Immigration Rules. Background: student visa application Mr Ashrafuzzaman, a Bangladeshi citizen, applied for a student visa in December 2019. When asked on the application form whether he had any family in the UK, he ticked “no”. He said the same during an interview….
When is the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 coming into force?
By Free Movement
The Nationality and Borders Act 2022 was signed into law on 28 April 2022. But there is a difference between a law being “on the statute books” after being passed by Parliament and it actually being “in force”. Most of the 2022 Act is not yet in force and will be phased in over time. The commencement provisions are found in section 87 of the Act. Section 87 provides that a handful of provisions came into force straight away, on 28 April: Section 10(1) and (6) to (8) (effect of past failure to give notice of citizenship deprivation) Sections 70, 71 and 73 (visa penalties) Part 7 of the Act (financial…
