IMMIGRATION LAW

ABOUT FREE MOVEMENT

• Started in 2007
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POPULAR BECAUSE

• Well presented, well written
• Use of humour
• Campaigning angle
• Huge demand for information on immigration law

IMMIGRATION LAW IS COMPLICATED

The rules governing the PBS are set out in the Immigration Rules and the appendices to those rules. These provisions have now achieved a degree of complexity which even the Byzantine Emperors would have envied.
- Jackson LJ in Pokhriyal [2013] EWCA Civ 1568

The detail, the number of documents that have to be consulted, the number of changes in rules and policy guidance, and the difficulty advisers face in ascertaining which previous version of the rule or guidance applies and obtaining it are real obstacles to achieving predictable consistency and restoring public trust in the system, particularly in an area of law that lay people and people whose first language is not English need to understand.
- Beatson LJ in Hossain [2015] EWCA Civ 207

I fully recognise that the Immigration Rules ... will never be “easy, plain and short” ... and it is no doubt unrealistic to hope that every provision will be understandable by lay-people, let alone would-be immigrants. But the aim should be that the Rules should be readily understandable by ordinary lawyers and other advisers. That is not the case at present.
- Underhill LJ in Singh [2015] EWCA Civ 74

INTENTIONAL COMPLEXITY?

• Non sequential numbering
• Longer and longer forms
• Laborious evidential requirements
• Frequent changes

SKILLS DEFICIT

SRA JANUARY 2016

• Lack of skills needed to obtain and record sufficient, relevant information about an asylum seeker’s case
• Lack of knowledge about the law underpinning the specifics of an asylum seeker's case; and
• Insufficient experience and competence in carrying out appeals work.

BSB MAY 2016

• Barriers to accessing justice: demand for immigration services outstrips supply, and cost and geographical location affect clients' ability to access services;
• Immigration clients may not understand the system, how to access help or how to seek redress if things go wrong; and
• Immigration clients experience varying standards of service across the range of providers in the market.

WHAT IS NEEDED?

• Accessible training for lawyers
• Reliable information for the public
• High quality and compelling
• Communicated clearly