Exactly one year after it was promised by the then ministers for immigration and children, the government published its safeguarding strategy for unaccompanied children on 1 November. The strategy’s introductory and welcome message is that refugee and migrant children are children first and foremost, and must not be defined by their immigration status. It makes…
Today the Department for Education and the Home Office jointly published a new safeguarding strategy for unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children, and revised statutory guidance for local authorities on the care of these children.
What is the government’s current position and what is it proposing for the status of European children after the UK finally leaves the EU? Following the vote to leave the EU in June 2016, European citizens were left in limbo about their status in the UK, as were British citizens living abroad. Of the three…
‘This is my home’, a new report by Coram Children’s Legal Centre, highlights the fate of hundreds of thousands of children and young people who, despite having been brought up in the UK, are trapped in precarious situations because they are unable to secure permanent status.
The RCC began as, and remains, a lobbying group that brings together organisations with expertise in refugee and/or children’s issues. Together we contribute to the debate on how refugee and migrant children’s rights can best be protected in an increasingly hostile environment.
Today the Supreme Court ruled that the Home Office policy of ‘deport first, appeal later’ was unlawful. This is of particular importance in light of the recent extension of out-of-country appeals to all human rights applications. Under the Immigration Bill 2016, the Secretary of State gained the power to certify the claim of someone appealing…
CCLC has today published a new guide called ‘Securing permanent status: existing legal routes for children and young people without leave to remain in the UK.’ This guide was first published in 2013 to outline to individuals, organisations and policy-makers the legal routes through which children and young people can attain status in the UK where…
On 6th April 2017, the fees for immigration applications rose once more. Immigration law is extremely complex, and any child, young person or family who has uncertain immigration status, or limited leave (“permission”) to be in the UK should obtain legal advice to assist with their application. Failure to pay a fee when applying could…
Syrians who are resettled in Britain will finally be recognised as refugees by the UK Government. The Home Office has announced that Syrian refugees who are being resettled here will now be granted refugee status, rather than humanitarian protection. This will enable Syrians to access university and to travel more easily to visit relatives in other European…
Today the House of Lords will debate an amendment to the Immigration Bill calling for the resettlement of 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children to the UK. When calling for support for his amendment, Lord Dubs has compared the situation now to that in 1938 and 1939, when the UK was the only European country to permit Kinderstransport children to enter. Certainly it…
‘Undocumented children are triply vulnerable, as migrants, as persons in an irregular situation and as children. The laws tend to tackle their situation from a migration and status standpoint, and not from a child viewpoint’ Council of Europe A recent estimate put the number of undocumented migrant children in the UK at 120,000, with over…
‘Every child matters even if they are someone subject to immigration control’ Prompted by concerns raised through our advice and casework that many services for young refugees and migrants in England were inadequate, unavailable or facing an uncertain future, Coram Children’s Legal Centre undertook a review of the level and quality of advice and representation…