Enough is Enough - A Campaign to Fight the Cost of Living Crisis

Founded by trade unions and community organisations determined to push back against the misery forced on millions by rising bills, low wages, food poverty, shoddy housing – and a society run only for a wealthy elite.

We can’t rely on the establishment to solve our problems. It’s up to us in every workplace and every community.

Our Five Demands to Tackle the Crisis
1. A Real Pay Rise.
2. Slash Energy Bills.
3. End Food Poverty.
4. Decent Homes for All.
5. Tax the Rich.

Read more and Join the Campaign - https://wesayenough.co.uk/

Abolition of Police Registration Requirement for Migrants Announced

Earlier this month, the Home Office announced the abolition of the Police Registration Scheme. The scheme required certain foreign nationals to register with the police and keep them updated about important changes to their personal details. The abolition of this outdated scheme is very much to be welcomed. It will do away with the need for cumbersome paperwork and removes an onerous ongoing visa condition.

There is confusion, though. A notice was quietly posted to the Metropolitan Police website announcing immediate abolition of the scheme on 4 August 2022. But the original notice, now amended, stated that those affected would need a new visa, which is not the case. Some Home Office stakeholders were then privately notified on 8 August 2022 that the scheme was suspended with immediate effect. A public announcement was belatedly posted to the Home Office website announcing that the scheme ended on 4 August 2022. The related Home Office guidance to its own caseworkers was then marked as ‘withdrawn’ and ‘archived’.

But in fact the scheme still exists as a matter of law. In theory, breach of the requirements is a criminal offence.

Read more: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/tggpze

Undocumented Extended Family Members Cannot Benefit From EU Settled Status Scheme

Extended family members who have made an application under the EU Settlement Scheme, without having first obtained a residence document under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2016 are not entitled to settled or pre-settled status. This is the conclusion of the Upper Tribunal in Batool and others (other family members: EU exit) [2022] UKUT 00219 (IAC).
The Tribunal also decided that appellants cannot rely on their h
uman rights in EU Settled Status appeals, unless the Home Office consents to this. Extended family members did not have automatic rights under EU free movement law in the same way that direct family members did. This meant that they had to apply for a residence document under EU free movement law before 31 December 2020 – when EU law ceased to apply in the UK.

Read more: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/miuhjg

Tagging of Migrants Breaches UK Data Protection Law

Privacy International has filed complaints with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and the Forensic Science Regulator (FSR) over the Home Office’s use of GPS tags to monitor migrants released on immigration bail. The campaign group argues that the Home Office’s introduction of GPS ankle tags to monitor and record the movements of migrants awaiting a decision on their immigration status represents a “seismic” change in the surveillance and control of migrants in the UK. According to a complaint filed with the ICO, the Home Office’s Electronic Monitoring Service (EMS) allows the government to collect highly intrusive data about migrants without complying with the safeguards required by UK data protection laws.

Although the Home Office has a code of practice containing safeguards for people who are being tagged when released from prison on probation, there is no such code of practice for migrants. The Home Office has granted itself broad and sweeping powers through its own policy to access an individual’s entire location history and share it with law enforcement – without sufficient safeguards and judicial oversight, Privacy International claims.

Read more: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/udtptn

Permission to Appeal Against Decisions of the First-Tier Tribunal

1) In its role as an appeal body from decisions of the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal is a permission-based jurisdiction. The process of (in the case of parties) applying for and (in the case of judges) granting or refusing permission to appeal performs an essential regulatory function governing the work of the Upper Tribunal. As such, it is vital that a party seeking permission to appeal does all it can to assist the Tribunal in the performance of its functions and the furtherance of the overriding objective.

2) Where a representative makes an application for permission to appeal, the application should feature the name of the representative and should not be made solely under the generic name of the organisation or team making the application.

3) Applications for permission to appeal should be made by reference to the established principles governing errors of law. Judges considering applications for permission to appeal should resist attempts by appellants to dress up or re-package disagreements of fact as errors of law.

4) All permission to appeal decisions should feature brief reasons. That includes a decision to grant permission to appeal. It is a useful exercise in judicial self-restraint to say why it is thought that the grounds are arguable, particularly where the grounds of appeal challenge findings of fact reached by the judge below.

No Reprieve for Durable Partners Prevented From Marrying Due to COVID-19

Many predicted that the heady mix of Brexit and COVID-19 would result in litigation, and so it has come to pass. Ending EU free movement law in the middle of a global pandemic – when people faced difficulty travelling, marrying, and getting advice from an immigration lawyer – was bound to cause problems. For Mr Celik, a Turkish national living in the UK, the problem he faced was an inability to marry his Romanian partner before 31 December 2020. In Celik (EU exit; marriage; human rights) [2022] UKUT 00220 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal has decided that he — and anyone else in a similar situation — cannot benefit from the EU Settlement Scheme.
Unmarried couples did not have automatic rights under EU free movement law in the same way that direct family members, such as spouses, did. This meant that they had to apply for a residence document under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2016 or marry before 31 December 2020 – when EU law ceased to apply in the UK. The Tribunal also decided that appellants cannot rely on their human rights in EU Settled Status appeals unless the Home Office consents to this.

Read more: Freemovement, https://rb.gy/bggchf