This chapter describes the asylum process from application through to the cessation of refugee status. The first two sections deal with entering the UK to claim asylum, and with the asylum application and decision-making, while the third explores the different routes through which an asylum claim can be processed, including ‘safe’ country of origin provisions and non-suspensive appeals, and returns to third countries pursuant to the Dublin Regulation. The fourth section concerns penalties connected with seeking asylum. The final sections cover remedies for the victims of trafficking, and other procedures after appeal rights are exhausted, or asylum has been granted.
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Chapter
This chapter begins with a sketch of the contemporary mental health system, and then discusses the rise and fall of asylum-based provision, the development of community care, and life inside a psychiatric facility. It argues that the mental health system will continue, as it always has done, to be framed in terms of the negotiation of a balance or compromise between our bi-focal response to mental disorder, prompted both by concern about the plight of fellow human beings and by a desire to control behaviour judged to be dangerous or antisocial.
Chapter
Panels, committees, tribunals, referees, adjudicators, commissioners, and other public authorities decide many thousands of disputes each year over (for example) entitlement to benefits, or tax liability, or political asylum, or the detention of a patient in a secure hospital. The massive array of agencies reflects the great variety of benefits and burdens that twenty-first-century government assigns to people. The array had no overall organization until 2007, when Parliament transformed it into a complex system. This chapter explains the benefits of integrating these decision-making agencies in the new system. The law needs to tailor their structure, processes, and decision-making techniques to the variety of purposes they serve. And the law needs to achieve proportionate process by reconciling competing interests in legalism and informality in tribunal processes.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in M v Home Office [1994] 1 AC 377, House of Lords (also known as Re M). The case considered whether the courts had the power to issue injunctions against government departments and the ministers attached to them, and whether the rule of law required that those departments and ministers could be held in contempt of court for breach of court orders. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in M v Home Office [1994] 1 AC 377, House of Lords (also known as Re M). The case considered whether the courts had the power to issue injunctions against government departments and the ministers attached to them, and whether the rule of law required that those departments and ministers could be held in contempt of court for breach of court orders. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.
Chapter
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter considers the provisions whereby an individual can be excluded from refugee status because of their conduct. These are as laid down in the Refugee Convention and the EC Qualification Directive. These powers were little used in the twentieth century, but now are used increasingly often in the context of the escalation in international action against terrorism. Their interpretation and application are affected by domestic legislation, in the UK, the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the Immigration Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, and the Terrorism Acts of 2000 and 2006, and draw on international criminal law. The chapter discusses up-to-date case law on exclusion from refugee status based on crimes against humanity, serious non-political crimes, and acts against the purpose and principles of the United Nations. It deals with the issue of complicity and the relationship with the UK’s anti-terrorism legislation. It also deals with the situations in which refugees can be removed from the host country.
Chapter
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter examines the requirements for refugee status, according to Article 1A of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 and the Refugee Qualification Directive EC 2004/83, referred to as the Qualification Directive. This includes case law on the main concepts in refugee law: well-founded fear, persecution, Convention reason, causal link, and internal relocation. There is a focus on the particular problems in gender-based claims. The chapter considers protection for victims of trafficking, who may go through a parallel process to the asylum system. The chapter begins with the legal context of refugee claims in the UK, and then follows the structure of Article 1A of the Refugee Convention.
Chapter
Geoff Gilbert and Anna Magdalena Rüsch
This chapter explores the definition of refugee status in international law, its scope and limitations and consequent protection gaps for those forcibly displaced, including internally displaced persons (IDPs), who have crossed no international border. There is no equivalent definition for migrants, but like refugees, asylum-seekers, and IDPs, international human rights law provides a framework for their protection. The chapter explains the difference between refugee status and asylum, focusing on non-refoulement in international law. It discusses the rights that are guaranteed during displacement, particularly those pertaining to detention and humanitarian relief. Given that refugee status is intended to be temporary, the final section looks at cessation and durable solutions, either following voluntary return, through local integration, or resettlement in some third State.
Chapter
This chapter examines the European Union (EU) home affairs law and policy, known in EU law as ‘the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ)’. It discusses the provisions of EU law on immigration and asylum (refugees and subsidiary protection) regulating the entry and residence of non-EU citizens, distinguishing between legal and unauthorised entry (controls at the border and expulsion and detention of irregular migrants), and the protection given to third -country nationals by a range of legislative measures. It also introduces the legal framework for the EU’s criminal justice policies, including the link between substantive criminal law and other EU policies.
Chapter
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter focuses on non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals who wish to live permanently with family members who are settled in or are nationals of the UK. The first part of the chapter covers human rights, particularly Article 8 and its impact on family life. The second part of the chapter considers the immigration rules. The family members of those coming to work or study and of refugees are also briefly considered. It examines marriage-related applications, that is, applications to join a spouse, fiancé(e), civil, or long-term partner. It considers the rules relating to adult family members and children, the family life of those with limited leave, and refugees and asylum seekers.
Chapter
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter begins with a brief history of immigration law in the UK, focusing on the key legislative developments and noting the themes which arise in that history. Twenty-first-century legislation is discussed in more detail, observing the trends of increasing restriction on those seeking asylum and reduction of appeal rights for all migrants. The tension between the executive and judiciary is noted as a background to much of the development. The chapter concludes with the sources of immigration law, including the immigration rules and policies, and explains that immigration law is not, as was once thought, founded in the prerogative.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R (on the application of Detention Action) v First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) [2015] EWCA Civ 840, Court of Appeal (Civil Division). This case considers the legality of the ‘Fast Track Rules’ which operated in asylum application cases, and the extent to which the courts can intervene in, and suspend, processes in major areas of government policy. There is also discussion of the relative roles of the courts and government in contentious areas of public policy. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R (on the application of Ullah) v Special Adjudicator [2004] UKHL 26, House of Lords. The substantive issue in this case concerned an unsuccessful claim for asylum on the basis of a fear of religious persecution. However, the focus of this case note is on Lord Bingham’s views on the extent to which the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights should influence the deliberations of the domestic courts in their application of the Human Rights Act 1998 via the ‘mirror principle’. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.
Book
Gina Clayton and Georgina Firth
The ninth edition of Immigration and Asylum Law provides expert coverage of case law and legislation, along with analysis of the political context and social impact of the law and a strong focus on human rights. The volume guides the reader through this constantly developing area of law. Analysis and commentary on the political, social, and historical dimensions of the law brings the subject to life and encourages readers to engage critically with the issues. This edition has been fully updated with recent cases and developments in the law, including the impacts of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic on immigration and the asylum process, coverage of the Windrush scandal, and a discussion of the case of Shamima Begum. It also contains important clarification from the higher courts on the interpretation and application of Part 5A of the NIAA 2002, a consideration of the impacts of the hostile (compliant) environment, updated Home Office guidance on Age Assessment and challenges to detained asylum casework, the Home Office Removals Policy, and the new Immigration Bail provisions.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R (on the application of Detention Action) v First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) [2015] EWCA Civ 840, Court of Appeal (Civil Division). This case considers the legality of the ‘Fast Track Rules’ which operated in asylum application cases, and the extent to which the courts can intervene in, and suspend, processes in major areas of government policy. There is also discussion of the relative roles of the courts and government in contentious areas of public policy. The document also includes supporting commentary from author Thomas Webb.
Chapter
This chapter examines the prohibition of ill-treatment under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It discusses the provisions of Article 3 of ECHR and explains that the fundamental character of the prohibition is affirmed by the fact that no derogation in respect of its provisions is permitted even in time of war or public emergency. It considers the definition of ill-treatment as developed by the Court. The chapter analyses the judgments made by the Strasbourg Court in relevant cases including removal of a person from the State, investigations, and detention. It also explores evidential issues connected with proving conduct falling within Article 3 and considers the provisions of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture.
Chapter
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter describes the development of the grounds in law for exercising the power to remove a person from the UK, from Immigration Act 1971 to Immigration Act 2014. These include people who have overstayed the limit of their leave or have breached conditions of leave or obtained leave to remain by deception, and the families of such people. The Immigration Act 2014 s 1 abolished the historic distinction between overstayers and illegal entrants and replaced a number of separate powers with a single power to remove a person who requires leave to enter or remain in the UK but does not have it. The chapter also examines the practical obstacles to removal. These are often as important to the individual as the legal ones.
Chapter
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter discusses human rights law as it affects immigration and asylum. It explains how human rights apply to decisions on entry and removal, and the extraterritorial application of Article 3, and its nature as an absolute right. The chapter discusses Article 8, and how the proportionality test is applied to removal decisions in particular. It considers the effect on Article 8 cases of the immigration rules, the Immigration Act 2014, and case law interpreting the relationship between the rules, statute, and human rights. It briefly covers other Articles, including recent cases on Article 10. It also refers to the interaction of human rights with the duty in s 55 Borders Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 to have regard to children’s welfare.
Chapter
Gina Clayton, Georgina Firth, Caroline Sawyer, and Rowena Moffatt
This chapter discusses the development of the current structure of the appeals bodies—the Appeal Tribunal and the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC)—and their procedure. It sets out the limited rights of appeal following the implementation of the Immigration Act 2014. It has sections on administrative review and judicial review. The chapter also considers whether there is a right to a fair hearing in immigration and asylum decisions. It concludes with a section on immigrants and asylum seekers’ access to legal representation, including funding.
Chapter
Essential Cases: Public Law provides a bridge between course textbooks and key case judgments. This case document summarizes the facts and decision in R (on the application of Ullah) v Special Adjudicator [2004] UKHL 26, House of Lords. The substantive issue in this case concerned an unsuccessful claim for asylum on the basis of a fear of religious persecution. However, the focus of this case note is on Lord Bingham’s views on the extent to which the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights should influence the deliberations of the domestic courts in their application of the Human Rights Act 1998 via the ‘mirror principle’. The document also includes supporting commentary and questions from author Thomas Webb.
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