https://freemovement.org.uk Updates, commentary, training and advice on immigration and asylum law Mon, 06 Jan 2025 16:29:30 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://freemovement.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/cropped-Goose-logo-32x32.png https://freemovement.org.uk 32 32 https://freemovement.org.uk/court-finds-that-the-home-offices-imposition-of-a-gps-tag-was-unlawful-for-over-a-year-in-the-first-case-of-its-kind/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=court-finds-that-the-home-offices-imposition-of-a-gps-tag-was-unlawful-for-over-a-year-in-the-first-case-of-its-kind Wed, 20 Mar 2024 12:30:00 +0000 https://freemovement.org.uk/?p=206032 On 11 March 2024, the President and Vice-President of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) handed down their decision in R (Mark Nelson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (JR-2023-001472), the first challenge to the Home Secretary’s policy of requiring people on immigration bail to be monitored 24/7 by GPS devices. You can […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/high-court-grants-bail-to-person-detained-under-new-illegal-migration-act-powers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=high-court-grants-bail-to-person-detained-under-new-illegal-migration-act-powers Fri, 26 Jan 2024 13:00:00 +0000 https://freemovement.org.uk/?p=202100 The High Court has provided helpful guidance in relation to immigration detention powers post Illegal Migration Act 2023 in an interim relief decision on bail. There are two written decisions, these are IS (Bangladesh) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 3353 (Admin) and [2023] EWHC 3130 (Admin). The court emphasised that […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/the-latest-policy-on-reporting-conditions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-latest-policy-on-reporting-conditions https://freemovement.org.uk/the-latest-policy-on-reporting-conditions/#comments Tue, 23 May 2023 07:30:00 +0000 https://freemovement.org.uk/?p=189158 In January this year, the Home Office updated its guidance on reporting conditions, again. Version 6 was published on 19 January 2023, replacing version 5 which was in place for less than six months, from 30 June 2022. Version 5 Version 5 was very much a welcome development in terms of reporting conditions. It adopted […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/the-latest-policy-on-reporting-conditions/feed/ 1 https://freemovement.org.uk/legal-challenges-against-gps-tagging-for-people-on-immigration-bail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=legal-challenges-against-gps-tagging-for-people-on-immigration-bail Fri, 10 Mar 2023 08:45:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=185671&preview=true&preview_id=185671 This post provides an update on legal challenges to the Home Office’s policy and practice of requiring people on immigration bail to wear Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. You can read more about the policy and the legal framework here and here. To summarise, in August 2021 the Home Office commenced provisions in the Immigration […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/home-office-has-no-power-to-vary-high-court-bail-conditions/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=home-office-has-no-power-to-vary-high-court-bail-conditions Mon, 23 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=166620 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 […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/telephone-reporting-for-people-on-immigration-bail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=telephone-reporting-for-people-on-immigration-bail Tue, 03 May 2022 07:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=165833 From April 2022 the Home Office has moved to using telephone reporting as a mainstream reporting alternative. This follows on from changes implemented on an emergency basis during the pandemic lockdown and sustained lobbying by migrants rights groups. People who are given a telephone appointment slot will be notified of this decision and the process will […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/mandatory-gps-tagging-for-people-on-immigration-bail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mandatory-gps-tagging-for-people-on-immigration-bail Mon, 21 Feb 2022 08:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=163329 Last August, the provisions in Schedule 10 of the Immigration Act 2016 providing for foreign national offenders liable to deportation to be subject to mandatory tagging as a condition of immigration bail were commenced. This provision was designed to implement the 2015 Conservative party manifesto commitment to “introduce satellite tracking for every foreign national offender […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/home-office-immigration-bail-powers-upheld/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=home-office-immigration-bail-powers-upheld Tue, 14 Dec 2021 08:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=161992 In Kaitey v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1875 the Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s decision that the power to set immigration bail exists even when a person cannot be lawfully detained. As Alex commented at the time of the High Court ruling, this is an unsurprising […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/government-must-obey-court-orders-even-if-invalid-supreme-court-holds/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=government-must-obey-court-orders-even-if-invalid-supreme-court-holds Wed, 20 Oct 2021 10:50:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=160885 The Supreme Court has this morning handed down judgment in R (Majera) (formerly SM Rwanda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 46. The appeal, as Lord Reed states in his opening sentence, raised a “question of constitutional importance”. That question was whether the government (or anyone else) can lawfully act in […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/home-office-given-48-hours-to-release-immigration-detainee-despite-coronavirus/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=home-office-given-48-hours-to-release-immigration-detainee-despite-coronavirus Wed, 10 Feb 2021 09:30:39 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=147125 In an interim relief decision the High Court has ordered the release of an immigration detainee within 48 hours, indicating that judges will not allow the Home Office to use the pandemic as cover to justify long “grace period” delays in releasing detainees. The case is R (Habeb) v Secretary of State for the Home […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/high-court-bail-for-vulnerable-detainee/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=high-court-bail-for-vulnerable-detainee Wed, 20 Jan 2021 08:00:54 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=145238 The High Court has ordered the release on bail of a detainee who is subject to deportation action but suffers from serious mental health problems. Full judgments at the interim relief stage are relatively unusual so R (RS) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 54 (Admin) is a useful insight into […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/eight-month-delay-in-sourcing-bail-accommodation-reasonable-during-pandemic/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eight-month-delay-in-sourcing-bail-accommodation-reasonable-during-pandemic Mon, 14 Dec 2020 14:30:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=143127 In the case of Mahboubian v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 3289 (Admin), the High Court decided that the Home Office couldn’t be held responsible for an eight-month delay in finding immigration bail accommodation for a high-risk offender. The court instead found that pandemic disruption was at fault for the delay. […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/wildly-unlawful-bail-policy-gets-only-minor-tweaks-for-now/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wildly-unlawful-bail-policy-gets-only-minor-tweaks-for-now Wed, 04 Nov 2020 11:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=139553 The Home Office has released new interim guidance on the immigration bail accommodation system. The 15-page document introduces a couple of minor changes to address the High Court’s damning criticism of the department’s bail accommodation policies in Humnyntskyi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 1912 Admin, which concluded that the system […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/bail-accommodation-system-ruled-systemically-unfair/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bail-accommodation-system-ruled-systemically-unfair Tue, 01 Sep 2020 07:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=134130 The Immigration Act 2016 brought about extensive changes to the support available to people on immigration bail. Since those changes came into force in January 2018, tens of thousands of people have struggled against the harsh new system, which has kept many indefinitely detained by the Home Office or has left them homeless with no […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/immigration-bail-legislation-means-what-it-says-high-court-confirms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=immigration-bail-legislation-means-what-it-says-high-court-confirms Thu, 16 Jul 2020 07:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=130617 In Kaitey v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWHC 1861 (Admin), the High Court has confirmed that the power to set immigration bail conditions exists even when a person cannot be lawfully detained in compliance with the Hardial Singh principles. This is an unsurprising result, since that was exactly the intention of […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/judge-intervenes-to-end-home-office-dithering-over-bail-accommodation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=judge-intervenes-to-end-home-office-dithering-over-bail-accommodation Tue, 23 Jun 2020 13:45:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=128616 In the case of Merca v SSHD [2020] EWHC 1479 (Admin) the High Court ordered the Home Office to release the claimant within four days. One week and two extension of time requests later, the Home Office has now complied with that order. Mr Merca, detained since December 2019, had been granted section 95 accommodation which […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/removal-to-afghanistan-most-unlikely-in-the-next-six-months-says-high-court/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=removal-to-afghanistan-most-unlikely-in-the-next-six-months-says-high-court Tue, 26 May 2020 11:30:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=125424 https://freemovement.org.uk/home-office-tries-to-lean-on-judges-deciding-immigration-bail-cases/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=home-office-tries-to-lean-on-judges-deciding-immigration-bail-cases https://freemovement.org.uk/home-office-tries-to-lean-on-judges-deciding-immigration-bail-cases/#comments Wed, 06 May 2020 14:55:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=124777 The Home Office tried to put pressure on judges to stop releasing migrants from immigration detention, it has emerged. An official letter from the department to a top immigration judge said that the Home Office was “somewhat surprised” that judges had agreed to release so many people on immigration bail during the coronavirus crisis. The […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/home-office-tries-to-lean-on-judges-deciding-immigration-bail-cases/feed/ 1 https://freemovement.org.uk/terrorism-suspects-are-still-entitled-to-immigration-bail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=terrorism-suspects-are-still-entitled-to-immigration-bail Fri, 14 Feb 2020 11:00:00 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=117412 In O3 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] SN/147/2018, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has confirmed that, just like regular immigration detainees, those facing deportation on national security grounds are entitled to a presumption of bail. In deciding whether to grant bail to such detainees, the Commission must balance that presumption with […]]]> https://freemovement.org.uk/detainees-with-indefinite-leave-to-remain-not-entitled-to-home-office-accommodation/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=detainees-with-indefinite-leave-to-remain-not-entitled-to-home-office-accommodation Thu, 31 Oct 2019 09:30:38 +0000 https://env-7121714.mightybox.site/?p=109362 An immigration detainee who has indefinite leave to remain must apply to their local council for housing benefit rather than for a bail address or asylum support provided by the Home Office. R (AT (Guinea))) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWHC 2709 (Admin) is about the interaction between mainstream benefits for […]]]>