Government ministers have met with Syrian refugees in Kent who are spending their first Christmas holiday in the UK, after arriving here as part of the government’s resettlement programme for up to 20,000 refugees in camps along the Syrian border who are fleeing civil war and ISIL in Syria. Read more...
A restaurateur who employed two illegal workers at his Hertfordshire restaurant has been disqualified for six years from being a director of a limited company. Read more...
An unauthorised provider of immigration services has been prosecuted and fined, after pleading guilty to providing unregulated immigration advice and services. Read more...
The Home Office is to launch an enhanced modern slavery helpline in 2016, to help more survivors of modern slavery and make it easier for the UK public to report suspected exploitation. Read more...
The London Borough of Islington is due to welcome its first Syrian refugees when five families from Syria arrive in mid-December from camps on the Syrian border. Read more...
City of Wolverhampton Council has hailed the success of Operation Riposte raids to tackle suspected immigration offenders and the sale of illegal cigarettes and alcohol. Read more...
In this article Immigration Law Trainee Solicitor Krishma Bathia discusses the Home Office fee waiver policy, a policy in which the Secretary of State for the Home Department has agreed to waiver an application fee if failure to do so would render an applicant incapable of exercising their Human Rights. Read more...
The Department of Health (DoH) has announced a number of important developments in the support of victims of modern slavery, to be shared with staff in health and adult social care services. Read more...
The Supreme Court has suggested that denying migrants entry to the UK because they cannot speak English may constitute a breach of their human rights in some cases. Read more...
Harrow Crown Court has convicted a husband and wife on three charges of keeping a man in slavery for 24 years. Read more...
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has signed a joint declaration with ministers from Belgium and the Netherlands at The Hague, to strengthen port security and tackle organised immigration crime. Read more...
A convicted fraudster will spend an additional two years in jail after failing to repay £100,000 obtained fraudulently from Southwark Council. Read more...
International Development Secretary Justine Greening has announced a £5 million package, which has been released to the Start Network to help migrants arriving in the Balkans. Read more...
North Yorkshire’s county and district councils, together with North Yorkshire Police and health care providers, have announced they will work together on a combined approach to re-settle Syrian refugees in North Yorkshire. Read more...
The Tech City, a designated endorsing body for the Digital Technology Tier 1 visa category (Exceptional Talent) has recently announced that under the upcoming Tech Nation Visa Scheme, more flexibility under the current route of the Tier 1 (ET) Visa will be available for Digital Technology talents coming to the UK. Read more...
Following the recent publishment of the Immigration Bill 2015 we wanted to provide you with an overview of the some of the changes and amendments that have been made. Read more...
The government has announced changes to some immigration rules, most of which will affect applications submitted on or after 19 November 2015. Read more...
Stroud district councillors have voted to back plans for vulnerable Syrian refugees to be resettled locally. Read more...
Essex County Council has called for the UK’s refugee commitment to be fully funded by government. Read more...
The government has announced temporary changes to restrictions on nurse recruitment from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), to ensure safe staffing levels across the NHS. Read more...
Business Secretary Sajid Javid has announced that recruitment firms which recruit solely from overseas, without having advertised in the UK or in the English language, will be banned from doing so under plans announced on Tuesday (13/10/15). Read more...
The UK’s new Minister for Syrian Refugees, Richard Harrington, has visited some of the migrants who have been given sanctuary in the UK, to see how coming here has changed their lives. Read more...
A Ghanaian national has been sentenced to six months in prison, after pleading guilty to providing unregulated immigration advice. Read more...
The United Nations refugee agency has said that the changing weather in the Mediterranean has not stopped the flow of migrants trying to reach Greece from Africa and the Middle East – and unless accommodation and conditions for migrants in Greece improve, the secondary flow of newly arrived migrants across the EU will continue. Read more...
Following meetings between EU defence and foreign affairs ministers in early September, an EU naval operation against people smugglers in the Mediterranean will signal the second phase of the EU initiative to prevent human trafficking at sea. Read more...
Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that the UK will provide nearly £115 million in additional emergency funding, in response to the migration crisis sweeping the EU. Read more...
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – an international economic organisation comprising 34 countries – has said countries who are members are facing “an unprecedented refugee crisis”. Read more...
A woman who passed herself off as an experienced immigration adviser has been given a suspended sentence, after being found guilty of two counts of providing immigration advice when not qualified to do so. Read more...
The government has announced that the new Immigration Bill will contain even tougher measures to crack down on people illegally entering the UK – including a new offence of driving while unlawfully in Britain. Read more...
A man from Smethwick in Birmingham has been found guilty of one charge of fishing without a rod licence at the Ripple Fishery on the River Severn in Gloucestershire. Read more...
The Home Office has announced the appointment of a Second Permanent Secretary who will have responsibility for immigration and free movement policy – as well as oversight of the borders, immigration and citizenship system. Read more...
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that EU member states may exclude EU citizens who go to another EU country to find work from certain non-contributory social security benefits. Read more...
The initial meeting of the government’s new Syrian Refugees Ministerial Committee was held on Friday (11/09/15), to lead cross-government work to house and support the 20,000 Syrian refugees who will be resettled in the UK over the next five years. Read more...
A new report which examines freedom of movement in four EU cities has concluded that the sudden arrival of high numbers of new workers in the cities has posed “some challenges”. Read more...
MEPs have said they are ready to work on draft laws to establish a solid migration and asylum policy in the EU. Read more...
The director of a Leicester-based clothing company has been disqualified as a director for six years, after an investigation by the Insolvency Service and the Home Office found that workers not eligible to work in the UK had been employed at the company during her period of directorship. Read more...
The UK is to accept up to 20,000 refugees from camps on the Syrian border by 2020, with orphaned children taking priority. Read more...
Austria and Germany have condemned David Cameron’s refusal to take any more Syrian refugees – a move which may damage the Prime Minister’s attempts to renegotiate the terms of the UK’s membership of the EU. Read more...
Figures recently released by BIS suggest that more than 1,500 businesses either started or taken over by individuals on entrepreneur visas since 2008. Read more...
The EU has given France £3.6 million to build a new camp to improve conditions for around 1,500 of the estimated 5,000 migrants living at Calais who are hoping to cross the Channel and enter the UK illegally. Read more...
Home Secretary Theresa May has said that only migrants with a job to come to should be allowed into the UK. Read more...
The Office for National Statistics has said that net migration to the UK has reached an all-time high, reaching 330,000 in the year to March. Read more...
Think tank the Institute of Directors has said that David Cameron’s policy on immigration is damaging business in the UK – and “radical policies” to prevent migrants coming to the UK will damage the economy. Read more...
An influential Conservative think tank has said that the government should drop the net migration target of “tens of thousands”. Read more...
A 67-year-old woman from Canada has been banned from entering the UK to be with her husband of 45 years because Border Agency officials say they do not have evidence their relationship is “genuine”. Read more...
Data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics has revealed where the most popular destinations are for Indians to study abroad. Read more...
According to Guardian research applications for UK nationality are on the rise ahead of next year’s EU referendum. Read more...
Moves by the Prime Minister David Cameron to toughen visa rules for foreign workers could backfire by forcing British companies to expand overseas and hitting the quality of university research, the government’s immigration advisers have warned. Read more...
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has ordered an investigation into how much of a “pull factor” Britain’s State schools are for migrants settling in the UK. Read more...
The chair of Huddersfield-based DASH (Destitute Asylum Seekers Huddersfield) has criticised the government for deciding to end “lifeline” support for destitute children. Read more...
A student with four grade A’s at A level has been told he will not be eligible for a student loan because of his immigration status. Read more...
A report by the Home Office Migration Advisory Committee has proposed new rules on the recruitment of workers from overseas, which could prevent British firms from recruiting skilled Tier-2 workers from non-EU countries. Read more...
The UKVI Online Application Service is changing how applicants in the UK and abroad can apply to enter or remain in the UK. Read more...
The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick has said Yarl^s Wood immigration detention centre in Bedfordshire is failing vulnerable women. Read more...
Polish workers in the UK are set to stage a strike in protest over concerns they are being blamed for the UK’s economic problems. Read more...
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has warned companies that employ illegal workers will face the “full force of government machinery”. Read more...
Landlords renting property to illegal immigrants could face up to five years in jail in a move as part of a drive to make it harder for migrants to live in the UK with no right to be in the country. Read more...
A new survey from Ipsos Mori on global attitudes towards migration has found that the UK is more positive than the US or Germany towards immigration – with three out of ten saying migration benefits Britain. Read more...
The government has announced that private sector landlords who do not evict failed asylum seekers will face a prison sentence of five years. Read more...
A Eurobarometer survey carried out across all 28 EU member states has shown that immigration is a concern for all EU countries, but most EU residents are “optimistic” about the future of the EU. Read more...
New figures from Eurostat have suggested that the UK will become the EU’s most populated country by 2050, according to current immigration estimates. Read more...
The Modern Slavery Bill comes into force today (31/07/15) – and increases the maximum custodial sentence for those convicted of people trafficking and modern slavery offences from 14 years to life imprisonment. Read more...
The government has lost a Court of Appeal challenge to a High Court decision, which ruled that the fast-track detention policy for asylum seekers was unlawful. Read more...
Thursday 30 July is the annual World Day Against Trafficking in Persons in support of the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons. Read more...
The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LLCI) has recently published a report which suggests that the current visa system does not work for London businesses and threatens to delay economic recovery. Read more...
The Home Secretary confirms new aim to cut net migration to the “tens of thousands” by 2020 after the previous goal was scuppered in Coalition. Read more...
The Home Secretary is considering even stricter rules on overseas students, in a proposal which could mean foreign students having more savings in the bank in order to obtain a student visa. Read more...
A report by the Children’s Society says that cuts to Legal Aid have denied migrant children arriving in the UK unaccompanied access to the law – and vulnerable children are at risk of having to represent themselves in immigration tribunals because they no longer qualify for Legal Aid. Read more...
Home Secretary Theresa May has unveiled new rules in which foreign students will be banned from working in the UK while they study and will be forced to leave the country as soon as their course ends. Read more...
New government figures show that a migrant in Calais attempts to reach the UK every three minutes – with police intercepting more than 8,000 attempts by migrants to sneak into the backs of lorries at Calais in the last three weeks alone. Read more...
The BBC reports that investors holding stakes of more that 5% aren’t allowed to sell shares in the next six months. This new rule from the country’s securities regulator is intended to relieve pressure on China’s stock markets. Read more...
Figures obtained by BBC Radio Kent under the Freedom of Information Act show a large increase in the number of illegal immigrants detained or arrested by police at the Port of Dover last year. Read more...
New figures from the Homes Office show that inmates at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre have been treated for self-harming every week and more than once a week in the last two years. Read more...
Immigration is a matter always at the forefront of British politics, and through no fault of their own international students are being absorbed into the discourse because of their inclusion in the net migration target stats; so often quoted by politicians. As a result of this, the topic of international students can often be seen as being on the receiving end of the anti-immigration rhetoric. Read more...
“From September” Landlords in England will be responsible for spotting illegal tenants under “right to rent” after a trial in the West Midlands results in fines. Read more...
Judges at the Court of Appeal have ruled that fast-track asylum appeals which can be heard within three weeks should be suspended because the system contains “structural unfairness”.< Read more...
Labour MPs and a legal charity are challenging government restrictions on eligibility for student finance, which applies to students who cannot fulfil immigration conditions, even if they have lived in the UK since early childhood. Read more...
The British Academy has said that employers in the UK have no choice but to employ migrant workers because British teenagers “cannot be bothered” to learn mathematics. Read more...
New measures have recently been unveiled by David Cameron to “significantly reduce” the amount of UK migration from outside the EU. Read more...
If you are a Non-EU national and wish to enter or remain in the UK with your respective husband or wife with British citizenship, or another family member, you will need to go through the route of obtaining a “family of a settled person” visa. Read more...
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said new immigration rules which demand that workers from non-EU countries earn a salary of at least £35,000 after six years of living in the UK, would “cause chaos” in the NHS. Read more...
Discussions about the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean are due to continue at an EU summit this week, after EU ministers failed to reach agreement on a policy to tackle the crisis last week. Read more...
David Cameron is to send six British Intelligence Officers from the National Crime Agency to Sicily to disrupt human traffickers sending desperate migrants across the Mediterranean Sea. Read more...
The United Nations (UN) has said the UK must take more migrants from Africa and the Middle East, as thousands of refugees stream across the Syria-Turkey border and cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy. Read more...
The government’s immigration cap for non-EU skilled workers has been hit for the first time, thus blocking the arrival of nurses, doctors and teachers the BBC Reports. Read more...
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire has confirmed that 15 illegal immigrants who smuggled themselves into the UK inside washing machines in a lorry have been deported. Read more...
Senior Royal Navy officers leading Britain^s Mediterranean rescue mission off the Libyan coast have said that up to 500,000 refugees are collecting off Libya, waiting to cross the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. Read more...
Campaigners who attended a protest against Yarl’s Wood immigration detention centre are calling for the centre to be closed immediately. Read more...
Changes in the allocation of council housing in Leicestershire have prompted some opponents to claim the plans will disadvantage new migrants to the city. Read more...
An immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport – where families are detailed while claiming asylum in the UK or before being deported – has been praised by inspectors. Read more...
The EU’s Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos has said that the EU is ready to discuss new ways of admitting asylum seekers to the EU and distributing them across EU member states. Read more...
A bisexual man from Jamaica who is fighting to remain in the UK has been released after being detained in an immigration detention centre by the Home Office on four occasions. Read more...
The Queen’s Speech has not included anticipated legislation which would replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights because it is reported that ministers do not wish to “rush it through”. Read more...
The International Development Secretary Justine Greening has said that the UK will not agree to migrant quotas, as the EU tries to relocate thousands of African migrants who have arrived in Italy and Greece. Read more...
A man from Braintree in Essex has been charged with rape and offences under the Modern Slavery Bill. Read more...
A leading education expert has said that the government must articulate its message on immigration more carefully, or risk losing overseas students to other countries. Read more...
It is one of the rare cases in which Permission (not final) judgment of the Court of Appeal has been reported. It is going to be the first case on the meaning of “serious harm”, the term used in paragraph A398 (C) of the Immigration Rules. Read more...
In a bid to deter immigration David Cameron has pledged to seize the pay of illegal immigrant workers and will also announce moves to prosecute firms which only advertise abroad for staff. Read more...
An entrepreneur has said the Conservative government should embrace the migration of skilled workers to the UK, to fill skills gaps in Stem sectors, including engineering, science and IT. Read more...
Experts have predicted that following the Conservative election victory high net-worth Chinese investors will be the largest spenders in the UK property market. Read more...
The UK is to oppose a proposal by the European Commission (EC) which would see EU members states forced to accept a fair proportion of migrants arriving from the Middle East and Africa on Italy’s shoreline. Read more...
In the wake of the re-election of a new Conservative majority government, the manufacturers^ organisation the EEF has said that the biggest threat to “long-term economic well-being” in the UK remains the prospect of Britain exiting the European Union (EU). Read more...
A couple from Perivale in west London are on trial for keeping a Nigerian man as a slave in their home for 24 years. Read more...
Home Secretary Theresa May has told the Daily Mail that taking a quota of the thousands of migrants flooding into the EU across the Mediterranean Sea should be on a “voluntary basis – and not because the EU demands it. Read more...
An official in Paris has admitted the authorities are struggling to find a permanent solution to hundreds of desperate refugees who have set up a camp in the city after failing to cross from Calais to the UK. Read more...
New data from MigrationWatch shows that two-thirds of new households set up in the UK since 1997 have a foreign national as their head of family. Read more...
A judge has ruled that a 53-year-old Libyan man who has been convicted of more than 78 criminal offences cannot be deported from the UK because he would face “unacceptably savage abuse” in his own country for being alcoholic. Read more...
Following an emergency meeting of European leaders on Thursday (23/04/15) to discuss the issue of refugees trying to reach Europe across the Mediterranean Sea, the European Union has doubled emergency aid to frontline member states Italy, Greece and Malta to €50 million (£35m) a year. Read more...
The Home Office’s professional standards unit is to investigate a recent incident at the Yarl^s Wood immigration detention centre, which HM Inspectorate of Prisons claims is of “considerable concern”. Read more...
David Cameron has said that the UK will contribute to search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean, to prevent further loss of life following the tragedy off the coast of Italy in which an estimated 800 to 900 migrants lost their lives. Read more...
A Lithuanian gangster who has fought a five-year battle against deportation from the UK is due to be deported after judges at the European Court of Human Rights ruled his case “manifestly ill-founded” Read more...
NHS rules have changed for non- EU migrants coming to Britain. As from 6th April 2015 all new UK immigration applications for entry clearance or leave to remain will be subject to a new “health surcharge”. Read more...
An investigation by Channel 4 News has found that some migrant workers in the agricultural industry in EU countries are being treated as slaves, living a “shacks” near the fields where they pick fruit and vegetables – and using the bushes as lavatories. Read more...
A hearing in relation to the ongoing position of the Secretary of State for the Home Department is currently scheduled for 22 April 2015 before the Upper Tribunal President, Mr Justice McCloskey. Read more...
Save the Children has said that around 400 migrants are believed to have drown off the coast of Libya after their vessel capsized. Read more...
The Department of Health (DoH) may in the future require hospital staff to inspect patients’ passports to make sure they qualify for free NHS treatment. Read more...
Search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea are being mounted by two leading international aid organisations, in an attempt to prevent desperate refugees trying to cross to Europe from drowning. Read more...
Duncan Lewis Immigration Solicitors bring to you all the information you should need to know about the government’s latest changes to the popular Tier 1 Investor Visa and Entrepreneur visa schemes. Read more...
A new briefing paper from the Adam Smith Institute has found that ethnic diversity in communities across the UK does not have a negative effect on social cohesion. Read more...
An inquest at Birmingham Coroners Court has heard how a man who had been detained under the Mental Health Act was allegedly beaten in an ambulance and later died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Read more...
Home Secretary Theresa May has proposed that if the Conservatives win the General Election in May, the Home Office would introduce a “deport first, appeal later” policy – with asylum seekers being deported to their home countries before being able to appeal against Home Office decisions in the UK. Read more...
A report by the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee has revealed that there is evidence illegal immigrants arriving in EU member states are making their way unchecked across EU borders to Calais, to await transport to the UK in the back of lorries. Read more...
Police raids across the UK have led to the arrest of ten people suspected of involvement with human trafficking to the UK. Read more...
The former Attorney General Dominic Grieve has said that if the UK exited Europe, around two million UK nationals working in the EU would become illegal immigrants “overnight”. Read more...
A BBC investigation has found that some illegal immigrants in the UK are so desperate not to be deported back to their home countries that they are being smuggled back of out Britain to claim asylum in Italy – before being smuggled back in. Read more...
Since the late 1980s, as the overall number of asylum-seekers has risen the U.K has responded with an increasingly restrictive policy of deterrence. Read more...
The number of refugees waiting at the Port of Calais to cross to the UK has dropped as record numbers manage to reach the UK in the back of lorries. Read more...
The Home Office released Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules on 26th February 2015 (HC1025). Read more...
Latest figures on net migration show another increase in the number of those coming to the UK compared with the number of those leaving. Read more...
You may be aware that there is a strong possibility the cost of obtaining an immigration visa will increase in April 2015. Read more...
A man who came to the UK from India as an illegal immigrant nearly 20 years ago has lost the latest round of his appeal to remain in the UK. Read more...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that foreign embassies in the UK are breaching the European Convention on Human Rights by claiming they are exempt from Britain’s employment laws. Read more...
A British businessman who has been trying for 10 years to obtain UK passports for his wife and sons is pleading with the government to issue them with visas, after his family home in Ukraine was attacked by the pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic fighters. Read more...
R (oao) AI v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 244 (Admin) (09 February 2015) - This case concerns the decision of the Secretary of State for the Home Department to return the claimant to France, despite being made aware of numerous deficiencies within the French ‘Priority Procedure’; the equivalent to the Detained Fast Track procedure of the United Kingdom. Read more...
Home Office Minister for Immigration James Brokenshire has admitted that UK nationals married to non-EU nationals who would like them to be able live in the UK are getting “a raw deal”. Read more...
The Director of Border Force Sir Charles Montgomery has told a committee of MPs that the number of people trying to enter the UK illegally via Calais and other Channel ports has nearly doubled in the last year. Read more...
The UK Border Force agency is to relocate the UK’s border controls at the Port of Calais, to try and prevent lengthening queues on the approach road where immigrants try and board the lorries to reach England. Read more...
The Department of Health (DoH) is to launch a pilot scheme in an attempt to recoup the cost of healthcare for migrants in the UK from their home countries. Read more...
A report by Her Majesty^s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) has revealed that three children were held at immigration detention centre Campsfield House in Oxfordshire – despite a pledge by the coalition government in 2010 to end the detention of children in immigration centres. Read more...
Southwark Crown Court has jailed a company director for five years for their role in a £6 million employment scam which exploited illegal migrants to the UK. Read more...
A multi-agency taskforce involving Cambridgeshire Police, Fenland District Council and the UK Border Agency has revealed that since the taskforce was launched in November 2013, a total of 216 cases involving gangmaster activity have been uncovered Read more...
The High Court in Australia has ruled that holding 157 Tamil asylum seekers on a vessel at sea was not unlawful. Read more...
Ministers are expected to vote on compulsory English language checks for EU migrants who come to the UK to work in the NHS. Read more...
Representatives for Liverpool Council are appearing in court today (26/01/15) over government plans to send approximately 1,000 failed asylum seekers to Liverpool every year so they can make a final appeal against deportation. Read more...
Migrants to the UK are being warned to beware of bogus immigration firms, after a 36-year-old woman from Moldavia pleaded guilty to eight charges of providing unregulated immigration advice. Read more...
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has issued an appeal to EU member states to do more to help with the huge numbers of refugees from Syria and other war zones, who are risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe. Read more...
Labour MPs have provoked a backlash against Conservative MP Christopher Chope’s Asylum (Time Limit) Bill – which would compel asylum seekers arriving in the UK to apply for leave to remain within three months. Read more...
A UK Border Agency officer has admitted two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office, after she read confidential immigration documents and passed the details onto her boyfriend – who was charging desperate migrants as much as £13,000 for legal advice. Read more...
Research by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has revealed that just 28% of London businesses employ migrant workers from outside the UK – contrary to fears that Britain is being “swamped” by foreign workers. Read more...
Analysis of Home Office statistics by The Independent suggests that more than 600 children have been detained under immigration rules since the government said this practice had ended four years ago. Read more...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has rejected proposals by Prime Minister David Cameron for a restriction on access to benefits for EU migrants coming to Britain. Read more...
Figures from the Home Office show that many migrants to the UK are being kept in detention for years, while the Home Office decides if they can remain in the UK. Read more...
Several ships carrying desperate migrants across the Mediterranean have been abandoned to their fate by people traffickers in the last month alone, it has emerged – with some of the migrants claiming that they booked a place on board the vessels using Facebook. Read more...
Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire has announced a crackdown on bogus jobs in the UK, used to sponsor illegal migrants to come to Britain. Read more...