Migrant Children's Project Newsletter
January 2020

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Law Commission publishes report on 'overly complex & unworkable' Immigration Rules  
The Law Commission has made its recommendations in relation to reform of the Immigration Rules. The Immigration Rules govern how many decisions in the immigration system are made and in recent years have become more prescriptive, with a view to providing more transparency in decision making. Unfortunately the rules have become bloated and unworkable, leading to calls for reform. The Law Commission took evidence from a number of organisations and Coram Children's Legal Centre submitted a joint response with Let us Learn to ensure voices of young people who had expereinced the immigration system had their voices heard and taken into account. The report recommends a complete re-draft of the Immigration Rules, limits on the number of updates per year; and a less prescriptive approach to evidence. For further information, please see the Law Commission report here. 

New report on undocumented children and young people

A new report commissioned by the Mayor of London has estimated around 215,000 undocumented children and 117,000 undocumented young people are living in the UK. The research, carried out by the University of Wolverhampton, also looked into the potential future issues for children and young people with EU rights after the deadline to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme. Children and young people can be, or become, undocumented in many situations, such as staying with family in the UK after their visa has expired, arriving without proper documentations, becoming appeal rights exhausted and being born in the UK to undocumented parents. The report also highlights concerns that EU national children and young people could become undocumented if not assisted to apply for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme. For further information, please see the report here. 

Challenge of student loan refusal for student with humanitarian protection

Student finance regulations are complicated and large numbers of children and young people may be unable to obtain student finance due to their immigration status. A student granted humanitarian protection was refused a student loan due to regulations requiring 3 years of ordinary residence. This is different to the rules for student loans for refugees. The student instructed Deighton Pierce Glynn, who represented her in her challenge against the regulations by judicial review. This difference in treatment left our client unable to study, so she instructed DPG to challenge the discriminatory impact of the Student Finance Regulations. Shortly before the hearing, The Department of Education accepted the regulations discriminated against the student and agreed to pay compensation. For further information on the case, please see the DPG news page.