The Immigration team provides advice, representation and advocacy on all aspects of personal immigration and nationality law, including refugee/asylum claims, human rights claims, EU free movement law and the EU Settlement Scheme, family reunion, investors, students and other aspects of the points based system, general refusal grounds and challenges to unlawful detention.

The Immigration Team also advises on all aspects of business and commercial immigration, including sponsor compliance and challenges to the revocation of sponsor licences and challenges to civil penalties in relation to illegal working.

Our legal experts in the Immigration Team have been providing insightful webinars on the most relevant topics during COVID-19 to keep you informed during this difficult time.

If you do require assistance please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our dedicated immigration clerks who can be contacted on +44(0)20 7400 9025, or at r.finch@doughtystreet.co.uk / e.norman@doughtystreet.co.uk.

New EU Settlement Scheme rules for Zambrano carers?

Friday 8 July 2022 

The Home Office is considering whether to amend the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) rules for Zambrano carers, following the Court of Appeal’s judgment in R(Akinsanya) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2022] EWCA Civ 37. Any changes to the rules are expected to be announced by the end of April 2022.

Doughty Street Chambers hosts a webinar to update practitioners, and anyone affected, on the changes. As Part 3 of our seminar series on the Akinsanya case, Nicole Masri of Rights of Women will be joined again by members of Ms Akinsanya’s legal team - Beri Nwosu and Simon Cox - to discuss any new rules.

The changes could affect thousands of third country national parents who were primary carers of British citizen children in the UK on or before 31 December 2020. The existing EUSS rules exclude those who already have leave to remain under a different route, such as on family life grounds under Appendix FM. In Akinsanya, the Court of Appeal found that the Secretary of State had misinterpreted domestic legislation when formulating the rules, but that her analysis of the EU law position was correct. Following the judgment, the Home Secretary agreed to look again at the rules.

The seminar covers:

- Any changes to the rules

- How they affect Zambrano carers

- How to apply for settled status or pre-settled status as a Zambrano carer under the EU Settlement Scheme

- Late applications, appeals and other practical matters.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Slides can be found here.

Immigration Webinars 2022: The Nationality and Borders Act Series

Doughty Street Chambers launch a series of webinars covering different topics arising out of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022.  

These sessions are for lawyers/NGO’s working in this field on behalf of claimants and are focused on how the new provisions of the Act are likely to impact on colleagues’ practice, with strategies on how to adapt and respond and on the challenges that might be brought.  


Please note that slides and recordings of these sessions will only be available upon request. To request the slides and recordings, please fill out a request form here.

Trafficking – Tuesday 21st June

Speakers: Catherine Meredith and Krishnendu Mukherjee

This webinar will focus on victims of “modern slavery” and human trafficking, focussing on key provisions in the new Nationality and Borders Act 2022 relating to the identification, support and immigration status of this vulnerable group. It will also focus on how other provisions in the Act may leave victims unable to gain the protection that they require, and may in some situations increase the risk of exploitation.

The webinar is aimed at practitioners and support groups working with victims of trafficking and modern slavery.


Asylum process and offences – Monday 27th June 

Speakers: Simon Cox and Michael Spencer

This seminar will focus on changes in the Act relating to the asylum process and the introduction of new criminal offences.  It will cover the following provisions in the Act:

  • new powers to declare asylum claims inadmissible and remove asylum seekers to “safe” third countries (sections 15-16 of the Act);
  • changes to the asylum support system, including provisions for housing asylum seekers in accommodation centres (sections 13 and 17 of the Act)
  • new offences relating to illegal entry and assisting illegal entry (sections 40 and 41 of the Act).

This session is for claimant solicitors, caseworkers and counsel; for legal academics; and for NGOs in the field.


Asylum determination & treatment of refugees – Monday 4th July 2022

Speakers: Michelle KnorrMarisa Cohen and Zoe Harper

This webinar will provide strategies on the following provisions affecting how refugee protection claims are dealt with.  Michelle, Marisa and Zoe will discuss and share ideas and strategies on:

  • The differential treatment and penalties for refugees depending on whether they arrived or are present in the UK unlawfully and/or claimed asylum without delay under sections 12 and 37 of the Act.  
  • Practical strategies for dealing with provisions on late evidence and damage to credibility under sections 18, 19 and 26 of the Act.
  • Addressing the interpretation of the Refugee Convention in sections 29-27 of the Act including well-founded fear of persecution, Convention reasons, protection as well as exclusions under Article 1F and Article 33(2) based on serious crime.

This webinar is aimed at those providing advice to and supporting asylum seekers and recognised refugees who may be affected by these new provisions. 


Age assessments – Wednesday 6th July 

Speakers: Donnchadh Greene

Part 4 of the Act puts the age assessment process on a statutory footing for the first time. This webinar will provide an overview of the new processes and procedures introduced by the NABA 2022.  Importantly, this webinar will look at provisions of the Act which seek to reintroduce so-called “scientific” methods to the age assessment process as well as impose restrictions on how assessors can consider the weight to attach to different evidence provided by the age disputed person. Donnchadh will discuss what can be learnt from the courts’ previous consideration of so-called “scientific” methods of determining age and how the courts have looked at credibility in a range of contexts.

He will also discuss the impact of moving the challenges to the First-tier Tribunal and the procedures, strategies and tactics that can be deployed.

This webinar is aimed at solicitors, NGOs and other bodies supporting age disputed asylum seekers.


Appeals and Removals – Thursday 14th July 2022 

Speakers: Graham DenholmShu Shin Luh and Agata Patyna

This seminar on the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 considers the provisions in the Act relating to priority removal notices, accelerated detained appeals, clearly unfounded claims and removal notices. The session will examine the practical implications of these provisions for those advising and representing impacted individuals, areas where past caselaw will inform the interpretation of these provisions, and areas where future challenges are likely. 

The session will be of use to lawyers and others working with individuals who are subject to immigration control.

 

Hardial Singh challenges: legal and strategic issues in practice

Tuesday 26th April 2022 

This session is aimed at those advising clients who are, or have been, detained under immigration powers. The discussion began with an overview of the Hardial Singh principles with a particular focus on recent developments in the caselaw, and a consideration of the interaction between these principles and Home Office policy. The webinar then looked at strategic and tactical issues arising in detention challenges brought by reference to the Hardial Singh principles, including evidence gathering, client instructions, timing and procedural considerations.

Level: beginner / intermediate.

Speakers: Graham DenholmAgata Patyna and Donnchadh Greene

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Immigration Year in Review: 2021

Tuesday 1st March 2022 

Doughty Street Chambers’ Immigration Team host their first team webinar of 2022 presented by an expert panel of our specialist immigration counsel:

Marisa Cohen, David LemerPhil HaywoodMichael Spencer and Camila Zapata Besso reviewed some key developments in the case law over the last 12 months. The webinar covered the major new cases and legal developments in immigration and international protection matters, including deprivation of citizenship; EUSS developments; trafficking; and deportation.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

The Refugee Convention at 70: The Convention in a time of crisis?

Wednesday 22 September 2021

Doughty Street Chambers Immigration Team host their 2021 anniversary online event, celebrating the passage of 70 years since the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted in 1951.

They were joined by eminent scholars in the field of refugee law, Professor James Hathaway, author of The Rights of Refugees under International Law (2nd edn 2021), and Dr Daniel Ghezelbash (Macquarie Law School, Sydney) and author of Refuge Lost (2018). Attendees also benefited from the expert knowledge and insight of DSC asylum and immigration barristers Laura DubinskyJelia Sane and Anthony Vaughan.

The event was chaired by Antonia Benfield.

The event included discussion of the new and recurrent threats posed to the Convention, the spread of restrictive asylum policies around the globe, and the likely impact for refugees and the Convention of the highly controversial measures proposed in the Nationality and Borders Bill currently before parliament in the UK. Drawing on academic and legal expertise in relation to restrictive, offshore policies in Australia and EU externalisation policies and practices, the event considered strategies to ensure the endurance and development of the Refugee Convention in the challenging years that lie ahead.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Slides can be found here

Detention and Release of Vulnerable Adults: An update

Wednesday 15 September 2021

This seminar marks the relaunch of the Doughty Street Immigration Detention Group, bringing together our market leading expertise in immigration law, public law and actions against the state. The seminar examined recent developments in the law relating to immigration detention, with a focus on the detention of vulnerable adults, including those with mental health concerns, victims of torture and victims of trafficking. The detention safeguards including rules 34 & 35, the Adults at Risk policy and trafficking frameworks will be covered; as well as practical considerations around release/ transfer, continuity of medical care, and accommodation. Coverage of these themes will touch on the impact of the post-Brexit legal environment and the Government’s proposed reforms to the immigration system, and panellists considered where significant future challenges may lie.

ChairMaya Sikand QC

SpeakersGraham Denholm, Anthony Vaughan and Catherine Meredith.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Slides can be found here

New Judgment on Zambrano Carers and the EU Settlement Scheme

Wednesday 16 June 2021 

On Wednesday 9th June 2021 the High Court handed down judgment in the case of R(Akinsanya) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, a challenge to the Home Office’s policy on the extension of the EU Settled Status Scheme to ‘Zambrano’ carers (i.e. third country national parents of British citizens who would otherwise be compelled to leave the UK).  The Claimant argues that the scheme unlawfully excludes Zambrano carers who have limited leave to remain on other grounds.

Join Simon CoxMike Spencer and Beya Rivers (solicitor at Hackney Law Centre) to discuss the judgment and its implications. This seminar was aimed particularly towards advisers assisting third country national parents of British citizens to prepare applications under the EUSS before the deadline of 30 June 2021.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

New country guidance issues on Sri Lankan asylum claims

Monday 14 June 2021 

The Upper Tribunal (IAC) has issued new country guidance in the case of KK & RS (Sri Lanka) addressing the risk of persecution for Sri Lankan nationals as a result of sur place political activities in the United Kingdom which are (or are perceived to be) in opposition to the government in Sri Lanka.  

The judgment redrafts the country guidance in GJ and Others (post-civil war: returnees) Sri Lanka CG [2013] UKUT 00319 (IAC) and supplements that guidance to address recent developments in Sri Lanka and the current perception of the Sri Lankan government to those advocating in support of a Tamil separate state and involved in sur place activities including commemorative events. 

This webinar provides a chance to hear from the legal team in the case, discussing the effect of the new country guidance and how best to prepare Sri Lankan asylum claims in the light of the new CG framework.

Alasdair Mackenzie and Antonia Benfield were instructed on behalf of the appellant KK by Arun Gananathan of Birnberg Peirce Solicitors and Alasdair Mackenzie and Ali Bandegani of Garden Court Chambers were instructed by Laura Smith of JCWI on behalf of the appellant RS.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Deportation: new strategies and challenges

Tuesday 30th March 2021

Doughty Street Chambers is delighted to welcome Dr Luke de Noronha of University College London who will present his ground-breaking research on deportation at an online seminar with members of Doughty Street Chambers’ specialist immigration team. 

Dr de Noronha’s recent book, Deporting Black Britons: portraits of deportation to Jamaica, is an important ethnography tracing the lives of four men brought up in the UK since infancy and deported to the Caribbean.  Dr de Noronha reflects on the role of poverty, racism and exclusion in their lives and, through interviews conducted in both Jamaica and the UK, explores not just the harm caused by deportation to individuals, their families and communities, but also its wider implications for citizenship, belonging and the entrenchment of racial inequality in the UK.  

Barristers Phil Haywood and Zoe Harper will discuss the challenges his analysis poses to our practice whilst deportation remains on the statute books.  Can legal concepts such as the assessment of the public interest in deportation or of the harshness of its impact be reinterpreted to take account of race discrimination?  They will consider recent case law developments before exploring potential strategies for individual cases in what we hope will be a practical and thought-provoking session.  

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Mental capacity and immigration

Wednesday 10th March 2021 

How do capacity issues arise in immigration cases? How should a Court of Protection practitioner address immigration issues? How can the best interests of those with uncertain or precarious immigration status be protected?

The seminar delivered by Zoe Harper and Leonie Hirst aims to give a practical guide for both immigration and Court of Protection practitioners on crossover issues which arise in both practice areas.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Slides can be found here

Fantasy Island? The new rules on admissibility of asylum claims and third-country removals

Members of Doughty Street’s specialist immigration team, Zoe HarperAlasdair Mackenzie and Camila Zapata Besso, introduced the Home Office’s new post-Brexit rules on when an asylum claim will or won’t be considered in UK.

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Farewell to Free Movement: immigration rights for EEA citizens and family

John Walsh, Simon Cox and Krishnendu Mukherjee will present on the immigration rights of EEA citizens and their families from 1 January 2021. They will focus on the rights of those already living in the UK on 31 December 2020 and their family members abroad. The seminar will address deportation processes and rules, the practicalities of family members joining EEA citizens in the UK, and obtaining leave under the EU Settlement Scheme, including in Zambrano cases

Full webinar recording can be found here.

Judicial Review of Asylum Support

Covid has put asylum support arrangements under even more pressure. Asylum-seekers are being housed in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. Some face long delays in provision of accommodation or cash support.

Polly Glynn, solicitor at Deighton Pierce Glynn, and Simon Cox, barrister at Doughty Street, address how failures to provide adequate asylum support can be effectively challenged by judicial review. From PAP letters, through gathering evidence, to issuing urgent applications and damages claims, this training will help solicitors and advisers understand how to get asylum-seeker clients into adequate accommodation, and the possibilities for compensation for delay and inadequacy. Ben Chataway, barrister at Doughty Street chairs the discussion and opens the seminar to questions from attendees.

More on Deighton Pierce Glynn’s PAP Project here.

To access the slides, please click here.

To access the recording, please click here.

The post-Brexit Points-Based Immigration System

On 31 December 2020, at 11:00 PM, freedom of movement between the UK and the EU will end. At the heart of the new regime will be the new Points-Based Immigration System (PBS) which will set out the categories of persons that will be allowed to come to the UK. Further detail was published about the PBS in July 2020, including the main economic migration routes. The webinar discusses this in further detail and what practitioners will need to know to advise their clients about coming to the UK from 2021.

Speakers: Krishnendu Mukherjee and Phil Haywood

Chair: Agata Patyna

To access the slides, please click here.

To access the recording, please click here.

The new EU human rights due diligence law and the Modern Slavery Act 2015 update

Lucrezia Busa, Member of Cabinet for the European Union, Commissioner of Justice, Didiers Reynders

Ms Busa discusses the initiative announced on April 29 2020 by the EU Commissioner for Justice, for rules requiring businesses to conduct mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence in their supply chains as part of the European Green Deal.

Dame Sara Thornton, UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner

One year into her post, Dame Sara discusses her strategic priorities and the work she has been undertaking with partners from across the sector to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of modern slavery offences and the identification of victims. Dame Sara also discusses UK and global legislation and policies on transparency in supply chains, as well as recent developments such as the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act and the work of government, businesses and consumers to better understand, tackle and prevent exploitation from taking place.

Chair, Krishnendu Mukherjee, barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

To access the recording, please click here.

Fee waiver policy ruled unlawful - judgment in R (Dzineku-Liggison) v SSHD

The Upper Tribunal’s recent ruling in R (Dzineku-Liggison) v SSHD that the Home Office’s fee waiver policy is unlawful promises to have far-reaching effects, as do the Home Office’s concessions over what constitutes a human rights claim. Counsel and solicitor in the case, Alasdair Mackenzie of Doughty Street and Saul Stone of Duncan Lewis, with Zoe Harper of Doughty Street in the chair, provide a briefing on the case and its implications, and answer questions.

To find out more and access the copy of the judgment click here.

To access the case summary, please click here.

To access the slides, please click here. 

To access the recording, please click here.

Zambrano child cases – challenging Home Office decisions

Simon Cox analyses how to win Ruiz Zambrano cases for parents and carers of British children. Can the Home Office refuse because the other parent won’t be removed from the UK? Does the client have to apply for leave to remain under Appendix FM? Can a separated parent rely on Zambrano? How do the judgments in Patel affect the EEA Regulations?

The webinar is chaired by Agata Patyna and deals with applications for residence cards and under the EU Settlement Scheme as well as appeals to the First-tier Tribunal.

To access the slides, please click here.

To access the recording, please click here.

AM (Zimbabwe) v SSHD and Article 3 ECHR in medical grounds cases

Krishnendu Mukherjee, Alasdair Mackenzie and Phil Haywood comment on the Supreme Court’s hot off the press judgment in AM (Zimbabwe) v SSHD [2020] UKSC 17 concerning the scope of the application of Article 3 ECHR in ‘medical grounds’ removal cases. The webinar analyses the implications of the judgment, including the Court’s analysis of the ECtHR’s decision in Paposhvili v Belgium and the procedural requirements of Article 3 in medical cases. It also provides practical guidance to practitioners with upcoming or ongoing appeals before the First-tier and Upper Tribunal.

To access the slides, please click here.

To access the recording, please click here.

Covid-19: practice and procedure in the immigration tribunals and courts

Simon Cox, Alasdair Mackenzie, Rowena Moffatt and other members of the Immigration Team address the current guidance issued by the Immigration and Asylum Chambers of the First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal and the Administrative Court in response to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The webinar addresses the practice and procedures now operating and discussed key issues arising from it including: remote hearings, decisions taken without a hearing and digitisation. There was an opportunity to share experiences and the seminar provided practical advice on how to deal with commonly arising issues.

To access the recording, please click here.