NCADC – blog

In this update: Commentaries highlighting the inconsistencies and ommisions in four UK Border Agency country specific Operational Guidance Notes; Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) launches new website; New UKBA Country of Origin Information reports on China and Zimbabwe, and Operational Guidance Note on Sudan; Unlawful detention case;

A round-up of some recent parliamentary activity: Detention: Children in Detention Entry Clearance Decisions Asylum: number of applicants Asylum: Change in student visas

A round-up of some recent parliamentary questions: Detention: Children – separated when one parent is detained; Detention: Children – when will detention of children end? Detention: Children – a formal time limit on the detention of children? Asylum – speeding up the processing of asylum applications? Asylum – progress on ‘legacy’ case resolution; Immigration control [...]

The Upper Tribunal has issued its new Country Guidance determination on Zimbabwe. This guidance comes just days after a House of Lords debate highlighted increasing political violence and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe in advance of upcoming elections, and recent Human Rights Watch report revealing that little has changed in that respect since the violence [...]

On 16 December 2010, the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) published a briefing paper about the impact of the proposed legal aid cuts in the field of immigration. The legal aid cuts proposed by the ministry of justice, which remove most immigration cases from the scope of all legal help and advice, will have a [...]

The High Court has ruled that Labour’s shadow immigration minister, Phil Woolas, is guilty of knowingly making false statements about his opponent in the 2010 election campaign. He has been ejected from Parliament, fined £5000, barred from office for three years, and has been suspended from the Labour Party. He becomes the first politician in 99 years [...]

Detention – children and families Foreign National Prisoners Fee Charging – Immigration and Asylum Appeals Jimmy Mubenga – will there be a full investigation? Asylum – legacy/Case resolution update Zimbabwe – Govt. plans to re-start forced removals Detention – women in mixed sex facilities Asylum initial screening – travelling to Croydon

Detention of children – government still committed? Detaining families – separating children from parents Deporting children – force and restraint Asylum statistics – country of origin Flight cost statistics – flight cancellation fees Deportation statistics – deporting offenders Detention cost statistics – average £110 a day Scotland – ‘dawn raids’ on families Scotland – asylum [...]

The indefinite immigration detention of migrants who cannot be deported is ineffective, inefficient and enormously damaging, according to a new report, “No Return No Release No Reason: Challenging Indefinite Detention”, by London Detainee Support Group. Only one in three people held in immigration detention for over a year are eventually deported, according to LDSG’s research. [...]

The UK Border Agency has announced today the suspension of the return of asylum seekers to Greece under the Dublin Regulation. With immediate effect, the backlog of approximately 1300 cases and all new cases will have their applications heard in the UK, and not Greece. This will come as a great relief to all those [...]