Free Movement
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Updates, commentary and analysis on UK immigration and asylum law. Sign up to our weekly email newsletter here: http://bit.ly/2yNDl3r.
ICYMI: Our weekly immigration newsletter, rounded up by Jasmine Quiller-Doust, covers oral evidence to the Public Bill Committee on the Immigration and Asylum Bill, and the Helen Bamber Foundation briefing on clause 36 and disclosure barriers for trafficking survivors.
Free Movement Weekly Immigration Newsletter #137 - Free Movement
Welcome to the weekly Free Movement newsletter!
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Re-entry bans after an immigration breach or deception can run for one, two, five or ten years, and outside a few narrow exceptions the refusal is mandatory. In our explainer, Nath Gbikpi sets out how the periods work and who they catch.
Suitability refusals: understanding mandatory re-entry bans - Free Movement
The rules relating to refusal periods for the majority of applicants are at part Suitability of the Immigration Rules.
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Long thread alert 🧵 1. Mandatory re-entry bans under part Suitability of the Immigration Rules can bar a return to the UK for one, two, five or ten years. The rules sound simple but are complex, so our updated guide disentangles them.
New: Suitability refusals: understanding mandatory re-entry bans — by Nath Gbikpi
Suitability refusals: understanding mandatory re-entry bans - Free Movement
The rules relating to refusal periods for the majority of applicants are at part Suitability of the Immigration Rules.
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🗓️ Tomorrow, Chris Dias will be taking us through the right to work check process and the changes coming into force on 1 October. 👉 Get your last minute tickets here: https://freemovement.org.uk/product/webinar-right-to-work-checks/
Asylum screening and substantive interviews can now be merged into a single interview. New Home Office guidance sets out the truncated process first flagged as 'merged registration' in HC 259. Jasmine Quiller-Doust takes us through which claims it covers.
New single protection interview guidance published - Free Movement
The Home Office has published new guidance today on the process that merges the asylum screening interview and the substantive interview into one. This was
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ICYMI: We published Eva Maria Doerr on how the Home Office is wrongly treating some EUSS pre-settled status grants as 'granted in error', having misunderstood when Italian citizenship by descent takes effect. Its concession in a judicial review may offer a way forward.
When the Home Office gets EU citizenship wrong: EUSS ‘granted in error’ policy and Italian nationals - Free Movement
The Home Office has been treating some grants of EU pre-settled status as having been granted in error because it has misunderstood when Italian citizenship
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🧵 1. The Home Office has published guidance on the single protection interview, which merges the asylum screening and substantive interviews into one for claims that appear clearly unfounded. It was first announced in HC 259 as 'merged registration'.
New: New single protection interview guidance published — by Jasmine Quiller-Doust
New single protection interview guidance published - Free Movement
The Home Office has published new guidance today on the process that merges the asylum screening interview and the substantive interview into one. This was
freemovement.org.uk
Webinar: Credibility in asylum claims – a practical guide for advisers. Covers how the Home Office assesses credibility in the asylum process, plus tips and techniques for helping clients demonstrate the credibility of their claim. Live webinar from Free Movement, £110 + VAT.
Webinar: Credibility in asylum claims: a practical guide for advisers - Free Movement
In this webinar, we’ll discuss how the Home Office assesses credibility in the asylum process and share tips and techniques for supporting clients to demonstrate the credibility of their claim.
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An unlawful genuine vacancy finding won't necessarily save a sponsor licence. The Court of Appeal upheld revocation in J's Supermarket and Prestige Social Care, answering two questions common in revocation challenges. Jack Freeland unpacks both in our analysis.
Court of Appeal upholds sponsor licence revocation despite unlawful genuine vacancy finding - Free Movement
The Court of Appeal has dismissed two sponsor licence revocation appeals and answers two questions that often emerge in revocation challenges.
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Long thread alert 🧵 1. The Court of Appeal has upheld the revocation of a care provider's sponsor licence, even though the Home Office's finding that one role was not genuine was unlawful. The judgment also addresses how clearly allegations must be put to sponsors.
New: Court of Appeal upholds sponsor licence revocation despite unlawful genuine vacancy finding — by Jack Freeland
Court of Appeal upholds sponsor licence revocation despite unlawful genuine vacancy finding - Free Movement
The Court of Appeal has dismissed two sponsor licence revocation appeals and answers two questions that often emerge in revocation challenges.
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ICYMI: We published our August immigration roundup podcast. Jasmine Quiller-Doust and Mala Savjani discuss falling quarterly statistics, the Supreme Court ruling invalidating an illegal working civil penalty, and two key Upper Tribunal decisions.
Immigration roundup podcast: August 2026 - Free Movement
If you listen to podcasts on your mobile phone, you can subscribe for free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Using a mobile device and subscribing
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ICYMI: We published Colin Yeo's tribute to Jim Gillespie, the barrister and passionate advocate for migrants' rights who died in 2006. A warm personal recollection from a former colleague at Renaissance Chambers, and well worth returning to.
Jim Gillespie remembered - Free Movement
Former barrister and passionate advocate for the rights of migrants Jim Gillespie died on 12 September 2006. I was a colleague of Jim's at the now-defunct
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The High Court has quashed a fourth ARAP refusal for a former Afghan Anti-Terrorism Court judge. MUF [2026] EWHC 2108 (Admin) turned on a narrow but important point: the MoD's handling of case reporting evidence. Aiya Nakash explains what went wrong.
High Court quashes Afghan judge’s ARAP refusal over case reporting evidence - Free Movement
The High Court has quashed the fourth refusal of an Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) application made by a former Afghan Anti-Terrorism Court
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Long thread alert 🧵 1. The High Court has quashed the fourth ARAP refusal for a former Afghan Anti-Terrorism Court judge, because the Ministry of Defence failed to explain how it dealt with evidence that judges gave case reports to UK officials.
New: High Court quashes Afghan judge’s ARAP refusal over case reporting evidence — by Aiya Nakash
High Court quashes Afghan judge’s ARAP refusal over case reporting evidence - Free Movement
The High Court has quashed the fourth refusal of an Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) application made by a former Afghan Anti-Terrorism Court
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📣 Final call for our right to work checks webinar! 💻 Join us on Wednesday for a practical guide to the right to work check process and the changes coming into force on 1 October. Book now: https://freemovement.org.uk/product/webinar-right-to-work-checks/
ICYMI: We published Anna Falconer's analysis of R (MB) v SSHD, where the Court of Appeal held the Home Office was entitled to certify an asylum claim as clearly unfounded despite the man being a recognised trafficking victim. Essential reading on certification.
Past trafficking alone does not mean certifying asylum claim was incorrect - Free Movement
The court held that the Home Office was entitled to certify this protection claim as clearly unfounded under section 94 of the NIAA 2002.
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Care sector sponsor licence revocations are at a record high, framed as a crackdown on exploitation. Yet Louis Macwilliam tells us many revocations he has handled involved no allegation of exploitation at all, only routine compliance issues. Essential reading for care sponsors.
Home Office crackdown on care providers: from exploitation to routine compliance issues - Free Movement
The Home Office has driven sponsor licence revocations in the care sector to a record high, for anything from exploitation to compliance issues.
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Long thread alert 🧵 1. Care sector sponsor licence revocations have hit a record high. The Home Office frames this as a crackdown on exploitation, yet many licences are being revoked over reporting failures and routine right to work check errors.
Anyone planning to register with the IAA should take note: competence assessments are changing, with new syllabuses at every level, an added ethics component, and a shift in when you sit the assessment during the application. Jasmine Quiller-Doust takes us through the detail.
IAA overhauls competence assessments and registration process - Free Movement
The Immigration Advice Authority has announced a major overhaul of its competence assessments. There are new syllabuses at every level, an additional ethics
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Long thread alert 🧵 1. The Immigration Advice Authority is overhauling its competence assessments, with new syllabuses at every level, a new ethics component and a change to when candidates sit the assessment in the registration process.
New: Home Office crackdown on care providers: from exploitation to routine compliance issues — by Louis Macwilliam
Home Office crackdown on care providers: from exploitation to routine compliance issues - Free Movement
The Home Office has driven sponsor licence revocations in the care sector to a record high, for anything from exploitation to compliance issues.
freemovement.org.uk
New: IAA overhauls competence assessments and registration process — by Jasmine Quiller-Doust
IAA overhauls competence assessments and registration process - Free Movement
The Immigration Advice Authority has announced a major overhaul of its competence assessments. There are new syllabuses at every level, an additional ethics
freemovement.org.uk
ICYMI: We published Joseph Maggs on R (Moon Fish Ltd), where the High Court held that relying on a mandatory revocation ground does not displace the Home Secretary's common law duty of procedural fairness. Essential reading for sponsors and their advisers.
Licence revocation quashed in Moon Fish but reporting duties still stringent - Free Movement
Relying on a mandatory ground for revoking a sponsor licence does not relieve the Home Secretary of her common law duty of procedural fairness, the High Court
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If the First-tier Tribunal treats an appeal as abandoned under s.104(4A) NIAA 2002, there is no onward appeal. The Court of Appeal in Guerrero holds it is a 'preliminary', excluded decision under Article 3(m) of the 2009 Order. Nath Gbikpi explains the implications.
A decision that an appeal is abandoned is 'preliminary' and cannot be appealed - Free Movement
A decision to treat an appeal as abandoned is an ‘excluded’ decision and there is no right of appeal to the Upper Tribunal.
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🧵 1. The Court of Appeal has held that a First-tier Tribunal decision treating an appeal as abandoned is a 'preliminary' decision. It is excluded from appeal to the Upper Tribunal and can only be challenged by judicial review.
New: A decision that an appeal is abandoned is ‘preliminary’ and cannot be appealed — by Nath Gbikpi
A decision that an appeal is abandoned is 'preliminary' and cannot be appealed - Free Movement
A decision to treat an appeal as abandoned is an ‘excluded’ decision and there is no right of appeal to the Upper Tribunal.
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