ON THE BLOG
By CJ McKinney on Aug 19, 2019 10:58 am
 Asylum appeals will be filed and managed entirely online from next year, the courts and tribunals service for England and Wales has said. HMCTS told Free Movement that it plans to roll out its “reformed digital asylum service” to all hearing centres at the end of January 2020. The digital appeal system aims to make the process of challenging an asylum system more efficient and less paper-bound. The focus is on electronic document upload, digitised case management and early online resolution rather than the final hearing being on a webcam, although HMCTS is also experimenting with virtual hearings throughout the tribunal system. Outlining the system in a recent update on...
By Alison Harvey on Aug 16, 2019 10:35 am
 Regulation 33 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 (SI 2016/1052) does not wrongfully exclude the ordinary principles applicable in interim relief applications. It does not exclude them at all. So held Mr Justice Murray in R (Yuri Mendes) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 2233. Mr Mendes, a Portuguese national who had been deported, was applying for interim relief in the form of return to the UK. The court agreed with the Secretary of State that regulation 33(4), which provides that if a person applies for interim relief the person cannot be removed from the UK until the court has made its decision on...
By CJ McKinney on Aug 15, 2019 09:12 am
 An immigration judge has rejected an asylum seeker’s claim to be gay, saying that the man did not come across as “effeminate” enough to be credible. According to a lawyer involved in the case, the judge wrote that the man did not have a gay “demeanour” and did not “look around the room in an effeminate manner”. The judge reportedly went on to say that “on the gay scene younger men are highly valued”. Barrister Rehana Popal, who represents the unnamed asylum seeker, said that she was “utterly flabbergasted” by the judgment. [Rant 1/2] Reading a determination that I thought must be from 16 century *spoiler it’s not, it’s 2019*....
By Alexander Schymyck on Aug 14, 2019 07:30 am
 O v R [2019] EWCA Crim 1389 is the latest of a series of appeals brought by victims of trafficking against historic convictions. In this case the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) decided to quash a 2008 conviction because the prosecution had not even considered whether bringing O to court was in the public interest — despite it being obvious to everyone that she had been trafficked into the UK. Lady Justice Thirlwall noted that “awareness of the law and procedure in relation to the rights of people who had been trafficked was limited at that time” but “those rights existed, irrespective of the level of awareness of them”. The...
By Free Movement on Aug 13, 2019 01:01 pm
 Role: Immigration Caseworker/Solicitor Hours: part-time 18.5 hrs Based: at our Coventry Office Salary: negotiable up to £29,704 pro rata based on experience and qualifications We seek an experienced caseworker to manage a specialist immigration and asylum advice service for victims of domestic violence. Central England Law Centre is the UK’s largest Law Centre, with a national reputation for innovation and excellence in its legal practice. We are a charity providing free legal advice to some of the most disadvantaged people in our community. We currently employ over 60 staff in Coventry and Birmingham and work with volunteers and students from local universities. We want to live in a society where...
By Naomi Hanrahan-Soar on Aug 13, 2019 12:10 pm
 Boris Johnson announced seemingly sweeping changes to the UK immigration system for scientists on 8 August 2019. Behind the usual rhetoric about attracting the “brightest and the best”, the reality is a lot less dramatic and potentially a lot less meaningful for the future of science in the UK. If we want scientific talent and creativity to flourish, we need to genuinely open up the immigration system. What is Boris saying he will do? Establish a new fast track visa for scientists and researchers Remove the cap on Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) visas Expand the number of universities and research institutes that can endorse candidates Allow for “automatic endorsement”, so...
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IN OTHER NEWS...
The new Home Secretary wants free movement of workers from the EU to "end overnight" if there is a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, according to the Telegraph. Beyond the breathless reporting, however, there is no detail on what (if anything) would be different from the May government's plan for this scenario, which already envisages the formal end of free movement but no barriers to entry for EU nationals in the short term.
One million existing EU residents have now been granted settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, the Home Office has announced. Barbara Drozdowicz of the East European Resource Centre said that "we are delighted that the EU Settlement Scheme has reached this important landmark".
The government also moved to reassure existing European residents that they will still be able to use the NHS after a no-deal Brexit (whether or not they have settled status by then). A Department of Health spokesperson told the Mail that "we can completely reassure EU citizens currently living in the UK before or on October 31 that they will still be able to access free healthcare on the NHS after we leave the EU on 31 October, whatever the circumstances. How they prove their eligibility for NHS treatment will not change, regardless of whether they have applied to the EU settlement scheme."
A joint investigation by the Independent and Finance Uncovered shows that the Home Office takes a cut of the "premium services" offered by outsourced visa processing firm VFS Global, which has been the subject of widespread complaints about the quality of service.
Immigration staff at the Home Office are themselves experiencing discrimination in the course of their work, according to the Guardian, reporting on the results of a civil service survey. 20% of Immigration Enforcement staff have “personally experienced discrimination at work”, and an even higher proportion at Border Force, which scored the worst of any of the 89 government departments and agencies surveyed.
Immigration judge Paul Chambers has retired from the First-tier Tribunal.
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