Asylum

An asylum seeker who feared being kidnapped and chained has been granted a fresh decision by Northern Ireland's High Court after an "unfair" and "irrelevant" ruling by the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The applicant, a citizen of Somalia, successfully challenged the Home Office decisio

Two asylum seekers who were refused permission to exchange their foreign driving licences for Irish ones have succeeded in a High Court challenge. The legal challenge, led by solicitor Stephen Kirwan of KOD Lyons, centred on whether the asylum seekers could prove they are "normally resident" in Irel

A review of processes in the International Protection Office (IPO) and the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) has been completed, ministers have said. The end-to-end review was one of the recommendations of an expert advisory group report published last October and was overseen by a hi

A three-person independent group has been established the report on the government's progress on scrapping direct provision. The government intends to phase out the direct provision system of accommodation for asylum seekers by 2024, following a white paper published earlier this year.

A Trump-era policy forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their claims are processed in the US must be reinstated following a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS). The top court refused to grant the Biden administration a stay on a district court injunction pending app

Up to 150 additional humanitarian visas will be made available to human rights defenders in Afghanistan in response to the Taliban takeover, ministers have announced. On scheduled deportations from Ireland, minister of state James Browne said there is "no question of anyone being returned to Afghani

A 12-person programme board has been established to oversee the scrapping of direct provision. Today's announcement is in line with government plans to phase out the direct provision system of accommodation for asylum seekers by 2024, following its white paper set published earlier this year.

Home Secretary Priti Patel's laws to thwart asylum seekers attempts to cross the Channel were dealt a blow yesterday after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it would no longer prosecute migrants. The agreement made between prosecutors, police, Border Force, the National Crime Agency and the H

The Law Society of Ireland has reiterated its call for an end to the non-statutory system of direct provision ahead of UN World Refugee Day on Sunday. A recent submission to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth called for the introduction of a system grounded in th

A move by the UK Home Office to house asylum seekers in a "squalid" military barracks in Folkstone was flawed and unlawful, the English High Court has found. The claim was brought by six asylum seekers who were accommodated in Napier Barracks between September 2020 and February 2021. All o

Danish MPs have defied international condemnation to approve legislation providing for asylum seekers to be transferred to detention centres outside of Europe for processing. The bill, approved in a 70-24 vote yesterday, will amend the Aliens Act to allow Denmark to move refugees to asylum centres i

Asylum seekers and refugees will be able to open accounts at any of Ireland's five retail banks with alternative documentation under new measures. Bank of Ireland announced last month that it would accept specific State-issued paperwork following an intervention by the Irish Human Rights and Equalit

Government plans to restrict asylum claims from people entering the UK without authorisation will place vulnerable children in extreme danger, the Children's Law Centre (CLC) has warned. The UK government confirmed in the Queen’s Speech that it intends to bring legislation to “establish

The Law Society of Northern Ireland has urged Home Secretary Priti Patel to rethink plans to restrict asylum claims from people entering the UK illegally. The UK government confirmed in the Queen's Speech today that it intends to bring legislation to "establish a fairer immigration system that stren

The High Court has quashed a decision by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) which refused protection for two Albanian nationals claiming to be the victims of political violence. The court held that the IPAT decision was flawed for several reasons, including that certain findings re