Immigration News Weekly Roundup – 9 May 2025
Significant regulatory changes are reshaping UK immigration practice this week, as the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) prepares to receive enhanced powers through proposed amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. These welcome changes will allow the IAA to impose financial penalties up to £15,000 for compliance breaches, order compensation to clients up to £250,000, and immediately cancel registrations of advisors who pose serious risks to clients or the immigration system.
In the nationality sphere, the Home Office’s new lifetime bars on naturalisation for illegal entry or dangerous journeys (effective from 10 February 2025) raises significant legal questions. Barrister Mark Symes offers a worthy read analysing whether the policy balances the Home Secretary’s broad discretion with public law requirements for individualised assessment of “good character.” His analysis highlights potential challenges around Refugee Convention compliance (particularly Articles 31 and 34), possible indirect discrimination affecting nationals from countries subject to visa requirements, and human rights considerations especially for children and trafficking victims. The policy’s legality will likely face court scrutiny soon.
The timing of these regulatory improvements is particularly apt given the contrasting outcomes in recent high-profile asylum cases. In DK v Secretary of State for the Home Department (JR-2024-LON-002760), the Upper Tribunal successfully challenged the Home Secretary’s rejection of a fresh asylum claim, ruling that decision-makers must apply “anxious scrutiny” when considering submissions. Meanwhile, in EI v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 556, the Court of Appeal dismissed an Albanian woman’s asylum appeal despite her history of sexual assault, finding she was not part of a “particular social group” under the Refugee Convention.
While immigration advice quality is being addressed, government policy appears to be hardening in other areas. Labour is targeting international students who claim asylum after arrival, planning to introduce an immigration white paper with measures to reduce asylum claims from student visa holders. This comes following local election losses to Reform UK, with reports suggesting nationals from Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka face particular scrutiny due to profiling models being developed with the National Crime Agency.
These policy shifts coincide with major international developments as the UK concludes a landmark trade deal with India focusing on economic growth. Advisors should note that while India has hailed mobility gains in the agreement, the UK is emphasising that the immigration system remains unaffected, creating potential ambiguity that will need careful monitoring.
The practical challenges of the current system are becoming increasingly apparent particularly with UK asylum accommodation now expected to cost over £15 billion – triple the original Home Office estimate. This fiscal challenge is compounded by disturbing findings that 10% of female asylum seekers are being forced into sex work due to extreme poverty, with 38% forced into abusive relationships.
Cross-border cooperation continues to face post-Brexit hurdles with the UK’s request for access to the Schengen Information System (SIS) for crime and migration data reportedly rejected. This security setback occurs alongside growing political tensions as Reform UK announces plans to resist housing asylum seekers in areas where it now controls councils.
These interconnected developments signal a complex and challenging environment for immigration advisors in the coming months. The strengthened IAA powers should ultimately improve standards in immigration advice, but practitioners must navigate increasingly stringent government policies while supporting clients through a system under significant financial, political, and operational pressure.
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For the full list of updates on media news, reports and Home Office Guidance and Policy updates, SEE BELOW
Immigration News
New Border Security Bill amendments to strengthen IAA powers – Immigration Advice Authority
The Home Office has tabled important amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which will provide the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) with enhanced legislative powers for regulation and enforcement. The amendments build upon the Bill’s core aim to strengthen law enforcement’s ability to identify, disrupt and prevent serious and organised immigration crime across the UK.
For full report, click here
UK concludes trade deal with India – UKVI News
The UK and India have agreed a landmark trade deal which delivers on this government’s core mission of growing the economy, raising living standards, and putting money in people’s pockets.
For full report, click here
UK asylum accommodation expected to cost three times more than forecast – The Guardian
Accommodation for asylum seekers is expected to cost more than £15bn, three times the amount the Home Office originally estimated, according to the latest figures. The Conservative government signed contracts in 2019 that were due to pay £4.5bn of taxpayers’ money to three companies over a decade.
For full report, click here
Work ban forcing 10% of UK female asylum seekers into sex work – The Guardian
Women who have fled war are being forced into sex work in the UK because of the extreme poverty of their living conditions here, while almost half cannot afford sanitary products, according to research. The charity Women for Refugee Women has found that 10% of women interviewed have been forced into sex work in order to survive, in many cases to feed their children, while 38% were forced into abusive relationships or situations.
For full report, click here
Student visa crackdown will make funding crisis worse, says Universities UK – The Guardian
New proposals to crack down on student visa applications in order to reduce asylum claims will make the financial crisis facing beleaguered UK universities “considerably worse”, the government has been told. Ahead of the publication of an immigration white paper, there have been reports that student visa applications from nationalities considered likely to overstay and claim asylum in the UK could be targeted as part of a new government crackdown.
For full report, click here
Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans face UK student visa crackdown – The Guardian
Nigerians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans applying to work or study in the UK face Home Office restrictions over suspicions that they are most likely to overstay and claim asylum, Whitehall officials have claimed. The government is working with the National Crime Agency to build models to profile applicants from these countries who are likely to go on to claim asylum.
For full report, click here
UK access to EU crime and illegal migration data reportedly denied – The Guardian
A UK request for access to shared European Union crime and illegal migration data has reportedly been rejected in a blow to Keir Starmer’s hopes of a post-Brexit relations “reset”. British negotiators have been hoping to reach a deal on gaining access to the Schengen Information System (SIS), a vital tool for sharing police alerts across borders within the area where 29 countries have abolished passport controls.
For full report, click here
UK migrant centre sees sixfold rise in a year of staff sacked over failed drug tests – The Guardian
A total of 29 staff have been sacked after positive drug tests at the Manston migrant processing centre – a sixfold increase in the space of a year, the Guardian has learned. Thousands of asylum seekers who arrive in the UK after crossing the Channel on dinghies are processed at the site near Ramsgate in Kent by Home Office officials and contractors. Many of the new arrivals are vulnerable and arrive in the UK traumatised.
For full report, click here
Reform UK to resist housing asylum seekers in its council areas, chair says – The Guardian
Reform UK has vowed to use “every instrument of power” to resist housing people seeking asylum in areas where it now controls councils, its chair has confirmed. Zia Yusuf, the party chair and a major donor, acknowledged Reform may not be able to stop people seeking asylum being put up in hotels where the Home Office has contracts with accommodation providers.
For full report, click here
Labour targets international students claiming asylum after election losses to Reform – The Guardian
Ministers will crack down on international students applying for asylum in the UK in a move designed to tackle migration figures, after a series of bruising losses to Reform in the local elections. An immigration white paper setting out the proposed reforms in mid-May will include measures to bring down the numbers of UK student visa holders who make asylum claims, the Guardian understands.
For full report, click here
Dying Syrian grandmother allowed to come to UK in Home Office U-turn – The Guardian
A Syrian grandmother who is dying of cancer has been given permission to come to the UK to spend her final days with the grandchildren she has never met, after a Home Office U-turn. The government had wanted to bar Soaad Al Shawa, who has liver cancer and has been given just weeks to live by doctors, from travelling to spend her last days with her daughter and her family.
For full report, click here
Case Law
DK v Secretary of State for the Home Department, JR-2024-LON-002760
The Upper Tribunal successfully challenged the Home Secretary’s rejection of a fresh asylum claim in case DK v Secretary of State for the Home Department (JR-2024-LON-002760). The Home Office had withdrawn the applicant’s initial asylum claim when he missed an interview, refused to reinstate it, and later rejected his further submissions as not amounting to a fresh claim. The Tribunal ruled that decision-makers must apply “anxious scrutiny” when considering if submissions could realistically succeed before a judge, finding the Home Office failed to properly consider country evidence and wrongly argued that public interest in immigration control should influence fresh claim decisions.
For full decision, click here
EI v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWCA Civ 556
The Court of Appeal dismissed an Albanian woman’s asylum appeal despite her history of sexual assault in Albania. Though she initially won in the First-tier Tribunal, the Upper Tribunal overturned this decision, finding she was not part of a “particular social group” under the Refugee Convention and faced no significant risk on return due to the time elapsed since threats from her husband’s business associates. The Court upheld that internal relocation was viable, women’s shelters were available, and healthcare would be accessible for her child with a neuroblastoma tumor.
For full decision, click here
Independent Articles
Naturalisation, good character, dangerous journeys and illegal entry, by Barrister Mark Symes
The recent Home Office policy on lifetime bars on naturalisation as a British citizen for illegal entry or making a dangerous journey to the UK has generated great interest amongst the community of immigration lawyers.
To read the full article with expert analysis from Mark Symes, click here
Home Office Guidance and Documents Policy Updates
Guidance: Register of licensed sponsors: students has been updated on 07th May 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Register of licensed sponsors: workers has been updated on 07th May 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Private life: caseworker has been updated on 06th May 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Skilled Worker visa: jobs that qualify for a PhD salary discount has been updated on 06th May 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Form: Application to register child as British overseas territories citizen has been updated on 02nd May 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Form MN1 has been updated on 02nd May 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Written by Shareen Khan – Legal Content Writer, HJT Training
STAY TUNED FOR MORE IMMIGRATION NEWS NEXT WEEK!
Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration advisors should consult the full decisions and official policy documents when advising clients on specific cases.
