Asylum review process flawed – LSSA

Cape Town – Asylum seekers should be given the right and opportunity to make submissions to the home affairs director general before the decision to reject their application is reviewed, the Law Society of SA (LSSA) said on Tuesday.

An automatic review by the director general without the asylum seeker being afforded an opportunity to make submissions on the rejection of their application as “manifestly unfounded”, was procedurally unjust, LSSA representative William Kerfoot told the home affairs portfolio committee.

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UK Sees a 23 Percent Drop in Asylum Applications

Apparently the number of people that are applying for asylum in the UK has fallen by almost a quarter when compared to the same time last year. These latest figures have shown that a total of 5,370 asylum seekers, including dependents, made applications in the UK between May and July of this year. This is a number that is down 23.6 percent from the 7,030 applications that were made in the same period last year.

The British Red Cross said that, despite this fall, it was hugely concerned about the growing number of asylum seekers that they are seeing that are destitute. The charity’s head of public policy, George McNamara, said that the current policy is forcing thousands of asylum seekers to be refused. Even some people who have been been granted refugee status have been forced into destitution. This is forcing them to have to rely on charities for support. The Red Cross does not believe that destination should be an outcome of the asylum system.

He went on to say that support should be made available from arrival until applications leave the country or are granted leave to remain. With the current cuts, it is vital that vulnerable asylum seekers are not made to suffer anymore.

The Home Office went on to show that the number of principal applications fell by 22.8 percent from 5,595 to 4,320 over this same period. The number of cases that are pending also fell by 7.5 percent between June and July of this year. This means that number was down from 18,955 to 17,540. However, a third of these were more than six months old, and they are still waiting for the initial decision.

Entry clearance deception refusals

Practitioners have seen a considerable increase in the number of applications for entry clearance that have been refused on the general grounds for refusal. The reasons are often opaque at best. Some simply refer to the contents of a Document Verification Report (DVR) and do not disclose this report. Many of these decisions cannot be appealed, or at least can only be appealed on race discrimination or human rights grounds, which does not get one very far in visit and business cases. Because one might as well shout at the moon as attempt communicate with most entry clearance posts, the only option in such cases is an application for judicial review.

I have had two such judicial reviews settled out of court in the last two weeks. The facts were remarkably similar and I wonder whether there is a pattern. In both cases the Entry Clearance Officer alleged deception, said they were satisfied ‘to a high degree of proof’ that false documents had been used and banned the client from coming to the UK for ten years. The clients were baffled and wanted to take things further. We lodged applications for judicial review and in both cases Treasury Solicitors have agreed to settle the cases and the DVR has been disclosed. Surprise, surprise, there is no evidence whatsoever of deception or reliance on false documents. All that has happened in both cases is that no-one picked up the phone at the other end for telephone numbers given on one of the letters submitted with the applications. Several other documents were verified as genuine in both cases.

Treasury Solicitors have suggested that neither side pay the other’s costs. I think not! These were nonsense decisions, use of false documents was alleged and the clients were banned from the UK for ten years. The least the offending Entry Clearance Officers can do is pay the legal costs the clients have incurred getting these decisions overturned.

If you do find yourself in this situation, the decisions are clearly worth challenging. There is a procedure for these Document Verification Reports to be disclosed, so it is worth asking for a copy before starting expensive litigation. There is a strict three month time limit on bringing an application for judicial review, though, and it is important not to let it drift by while waiting for Godot the ECO to respond.

Source:Free Movement

Immigration cap affecting social worker shortages

UK Border Agency documents have revealed that applications from local authorities to employ qualified social workers from outside the EU are being turned down due to new temporary immigration restrictions.

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Refugees into Teaching – subcontract application process

There are currently 30 overseas-experienced ‘refugee teachers’ registered with the Refugees into Teaching project and living in and around the East Midlands. However, we believe that there are many more based here in need of help. We are therefore keen to increase and consolidate our support for these clients.

Refugees into Teaching (RiT) aims to provide free information, advice, guidance and support to refugees in the UK who wish to become qualified teachers or work in other support staff roles in UK state primary or secondary schools.

RiT is an England-wide project, funded by the Training and Development Agency for schools (TDA), and based at the Refugee Council offices in London and Leeds. The Refugee Council is a human rights charity, independent of government, which works to ensure that refugees are given the protection they need, that they are treated with respect and understanding, and that they have the same rights, opportunities and responsibilities as other members of our society.

As RiT doesn’t currently have a presence in the East Midlands, we are unable to deliver as much hands-on support as we would like.

For this reason, we are inviting charitable (or not-for-profit) organisations with a background in supporting adults into training and employment within the region to submit applications for funding to deliver Refugees into Teaching activities in the East Midlands

We are running a commissioning process for an available £20,000 to an organisation(s) that can coordinate some or all of the following activities in support of ‘refugee teachers’ over a 12 month period:

• Voluntary school placements
• Support group workshops
• Mentoring

Please see the attached commissioning documents for more information on how to apply. Closing date for applications 17th September.  Suggested delivery of activities to start on 11th October 2010 and run for 12 months.

If you would like to discuss any elements of this process or your application, please contact Andrew Lawton

RiT Commissioning – Accompanying Notes

RiT Commissioning – East Mids specification

RiT Commissioning – Application Form – FINAL

Refugee Council
Refugees into Teaching – Project manager

240-250 Ferndale Road, London. SW9 8BB, 020 7346 1167

www.refugeesintoteaching.org.uk

Iraqis, Afghans and Somalis top list of asylum seekers in industrialized world

Press Release

Asylum applications in industrialized nations rose by 10 percent in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period last year, according to the UN refugee agency’s provisional statistics released Wednesday. A total of 185,000 asylum claims were filed in the six months of this year across 38 European countries, the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and The Republic of Korea.

Iraq remains the top country of origin of the asylum applicants (13,200 claims) for the fourth consecutive year. Afghans (12,000 claims) and Somalis (11,000 claims) are the second and third largest groups as security conditions continue to deteriorate in large parts of their home countries. The other main countries of origin are China, Serbia (including Kosovo), the Russian Federation, Nigeria, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

“These statistics show that ongoing violence and instability in some parts of the world force increasing numbers of people to flee and seek protection in safe countries,” High Commissioner António Guterres said. “There is an acute need for countries to keep their asylum doors wide open to those who are in genuine need of international protection.”

As a region, Europe received 75 percent of all asylum applications although the United States remained the single largest recipient country with an estimated 13 percent of all applications filed in industrialized nations (23,700). France ranks as the second recipient nation with 10 percent of all claims (19,400), followed by Canada (18,700), the United Kingdom (17,700) and Germany, ranked fifth (12,000).

Analyzing the trends, the UNHCR statistical report shows an uneven distribution of asylum claims. The majority of claims by Iraqis, for example, were submitted in Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, as well as in neighbouring Turkey. Afghan claims were mostly filed in the United Kingdom or Norway, while Somalis mainly applied for asylum in the Netherlands, Sweden and Italy.

Policy changes may also affect asylum trends, according to the report. It cites the example of a sharp decline in Iraqi asylum claims in Sweden after a migration court ruled in 2007 that the situation in Iraq was not one of “armed conflict”. The decision, the report says, may have shifted Iraqi applications to other countries such as Germany, Finland and Norway.

While the report focused on asylum trends during the first half of this year, the authors say the second semester might see a further increase in the number of claims, based on seasonal patterns over the past 10 years. The report also cautions that the number of applications does not necessarily equal the number of individuals because some people may have applied in more than one country in a given year or more than once in the same country.

Home Office has lost track of 40,000 rejected migrants

By Richard Ford

The Home Office has lost track of tens of thousands of migrants who were refused extensions to their visas more than six years ago, it emerged today.

Officials have no idea whether the immigrants left the country as required or are still in Britain as illegal migrants.

Lin Homer, chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, disclosed the latest backlog of immigration cases in a letter to the Commons Home Affairs select committee.

The revelation comes three years after John Reid, then Home Secretary, described the Home Office’s immigration department as “not fit for purpose”. His made his attack over the failure to deport foreign national prisoners after they had served a jail sentence and the backlog of failed ayslum cases.

The Agency is currently working its way through a backlog of between 400,000 – 450,000 old asylum cases and is now preparing to start work on the 40,000 backlog of old immigration cases.

“We are also increasingly giving attentions to our older, archived, non asylum cases, where we have dealt with the application, but we have not formal record that the individual has left the country”, Ms Homer said in the letter.

Officials in the Agency have started to look through the 40,000 case files to see if the immigrants are still in the country and can be removed.

Ms Homer said most of the files related to cases dating back before 2003 and were immigrants who have been refused an extension to their visa allowing them to remain in the UK.

In the letter to Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs select committee, Ms Homer said that the names are to be checked against police records and the anti-terror watchlist to see if any individual is “harmful” to the public.

Critics of the Home Office said the figures disclosed the “utter chaos” in the immigration system.

Ms Homer said in her letter that in some of the old immigration cases further action against the individuals might be possible.

“In the last few months we have begun the process of reviewing these files to consider if any further action is necessary or possible. Where further action is required it will be taken and any cases which may be considered as harmful to the public will be prioritised.”

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK said: “Yet another skeleton in the Home Office cupboard.

“Tens of thousands of case files lying around and the true situation covered up for years on end. This is symptomatic of the utter chaos in the asylum and immigration system during the past ten years.

“Nobody in the private sector would get away with such a performance.”

A Home Office spokesman said the department believed many of the individuals had returned home, been removed or had been allowed to stay in Britain after applying through in another category.

The spokesman added: “We expect those that are here illegally to return home. Where they refuse to do so, we will seek to enforce their return.”

Spouse visa age… again

Source:Free Movement

Back to this old chestnut. I’ve been doing a bit more work on the subject and thought I’d share a minor revelation I had while writing an article for one of the immigration law journals. I’ve also learned that there is a judicial review application on this to be heard on 30 October 2009, although having spoken to the barrister instructed he’s not currently planing to challenge the rule itself, just the treatment of the individual client.

As to the minor revelation, I’m ashamed not to have picked up on this before. It is hardly rocket science. The statistics used by the Home Office in the announcement that the spouse and partner visa age would be increased showed that there were more reported forced marriages at certain ages. UKBA then used this information to argue that because there were more forced marriages at these ages, raising the visa age beyond this age bracket would help prevent forced marriages. Simple.

The problems are really, really fundamental ones. First of all, the sample size is tiny in comparison to the total number of marriages that take place at the ages affected. This is one of the justifications used by UKBA for not publishing the research report on forced marriages they commissioned, incidentally. Secondly, I suspect there are more marriages at these ages in the communities believed to be most affected by forced marriage. One would therefore expect there to be more forced marriages as well. If anyone has any ideas on how to find out how many marriages there are at different ages in, for example, the British Asian community, I’d be very interested to hear. There is therefore nothing at all to show that proportionately there are more forced marriages before the age of 21 (and in the research commissioned by the Home Office almost everyone said age is not a factor in determining risk of forced marriage). Thirdly, there is also nothing at all to show that forced marriages are more likely to be a problem if the marriage is to a foreign national – i.e. changing the visa age does nothing to tackle domestic forced marriages.

So, what UKBA are really trying to achieve is a reduction in the number of marriages to foreign nationals, in the alleged hope that this will reduce the number of forced marriages. Yet there is nothing to suggest that the age bracket affected by the change is particularly at risk of forced marriage and there is nothing to suggest that forced marriages are more of a problem in foreign marriages.

Are ministers and civil servants so daft that they think the statistical ‘evidence’ they relied on is strong? Or is this cynical and discriminatory pandering to the anti-immigration lobby?

Disruption to the online tools and applications for the PBS 06/09/09

As part of our planned programme of improvements, the online tools and applications for the points-based system (the self-assessment tool, the sponsorship management system and sponsor application) will be unavailable for the duration of Sunday 6 September, so that essential maintenance can be carried out.

During this period you will not be able to create or submit an application. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Raynes fellowships for refugees

On 13th July, a fantastic opportunity for refugees living in the UK was launched: the Rayne Fellowships for Refugees program, funded by the Rayne Foundation and the Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and managed by Praxis.

Each year, 5 refugees with Big Ideas will be selected for a Fellowship. They will be able to draw upon a resource fund of up to £15,000 to be spent on personal development, further training or education, resources, expert advice, one-to-one mentoring or attending networking events.

Applications can be made by refugees of all ages. Those aged 18-25 are particularly encouraged.

The deadline for the submission of the first round of applications is 14th October 2009.

See http://www.praxis.org.uk/index.php?page=2_28

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