Immigration Law Review - UK and USA

  Lucio Ivaldo Cabral Fortes Tomar ("Petitioner"), a native and citizen of Cape Verde, entered the United States in 2005 on a B-2 visitor visa and remained beyond the authorized period. In 2010, the Department of Homeland Security initiated removal proceedings against him under Section 237(a)(1)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(1)(B), for overstaying his visa. In response, the Petitioner applied for asylum under INA § 208, 8 U.S.C. § 1158; withholding of removal under INA § 241(b)(3), 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3); and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), 8 C.F.R. §§ 1208.16-18. The Petitioner's claims were based on alleged past persecution and a fear of future persecution due to his political opinion. He testified that in Cape Verde, he had been an active member of the opposition party, the Movement for Democracy (MpD), and had participated in protests against the ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde (PAIC...

In UK immigration / asylum law, “voluntary re ‑ availment” refers to a situation where a recognised refugee (or someone claiming refugee protection) has chosen to place themself back under the protection of their country of nationality (or former habitual residence). Paragraph 339A of the Immigration Rules (which implements Article 1C of the Refugee Convention) sets out the grounds on which refugee status ceases, states as follows: 339A. A person shall cease to be a refugee if: (i) he has voluntarily re-availed himself of the protection of the country of nationality; or (ii) having lost his nationality, he has voluntarily reacquired it; or (iii) he has acquired a new nationality, and enjoys the protection of the country of his new nationality; or (iv) he has voluntarily re-established himself in the country which he left or outside which he remained owing to fear of persecution; or (v) he can no longer, because the circumstances in connection with which he has been recog...

  In 2005, Agnes Mukantagara, a Rwandan national, was admitted to the United States as a refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, based on her claims of past persecution. Her minor son, Ebenezer Shyaka, was granted derivative refugee status as her dependent. In 2007, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) placed a hold on Mukantagara's refugee status and revoked her travel documents amid suspicions of her involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. By 2008, USCIS launched a formal investigation. In 2016, USCIS concluded that Mukantagara had participated in the genocide, triggering the "persecutor bar" under 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42), which excludes individuals who have ordered, incited, assisted, or participated in persecution from qualifying as refugees. Consequently, USCIS terminated her refugee status under 8 U.S.C. § 1157(c)(4), finding that she did not meet the Immigration and Nationality Act's (INA) definition of "refugee" at the time of admission. T...

The applicant, Shuk Wai Tsang, a Chinese national from Hong Kong born in 1991, first entered the UK on 15 September 2015 as a Tier 5 Youth Mobility migrant, departing on 16 November 2018. She returned on 16 October 2019 with a six-month visitor visa expiring on 16 April 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, she sought extensions under the Home Office's Coronavirus Extension Concession (CEC) and Exceptional Assurance (EA) policy. She was granted successive assurances: from 8 April 2020 (until 31 May 2020), 1 June 2020 (until 31 July 2020), and 28 September 2020 (until 31 October 2020, backdated to 1 August 2020). On 28 October 2020, prior to the expiry of her last assurance, she submitted an online request for a further extension. Due to technical issues with the Home Office's form, she received an email on 24 November 2020 inviting resubmission of details. She responded on 5 February 2021, also submitting a settlement application that day. The assurance ...

Christian Ruiz, a native and citizen of Nicaragua born in 1975, experienced significant trauma during the Sandinista regime's rule in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His family opposed the Sandinistas and supported the Nationalist Liberal Party. Ruiz's father was killed by a Sandinista militant for criticizing the government, and the family faced ongoing harassment, threats, property confiscation, interrogations, and vandalism. As a young child, Ruiz was forced to participate in Sandinista youth activities and witnessed violence against perceived opponents. In 1984, at age nine, Ruiz fled to the United States with his family. They returned to Nicaragua in 1994 after his mother's asylum application was denied. Ruiz briefly visited the U.S. in 2001 and 2005, lived in Guatemala from 1996 to 2006 (where he married and had a child), and re-entered the U.S. unlawfully in 2006, settling in Oregon. He struggled with alcoholism, incurring multiple DUI convictions (2012, 2016, 2019...

Somani Hotels Ltd owns the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, located within the Metropolitan Green Belt and a Conservation Area, opposite Bell Common and near schools and a care home. The hotel has 80 bedrooms and has operated as a Class C1 hotel under the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987. It closed in March 2020 due to Covid-19, reopened in August 2022 with reduced occupancy, and experienced financial decline. From May 2020 to April 2024, the hotel housed asylum seekers under contracts with the Home Office via providers like Clearsprings/Ready Homes and Finefair Ltd, without any enforcement notices from Epping Forest District Council. In February 2025, Somani entered a new 12-month contract with CTM (a Home Office provider) to accommodate up to 138 single adult male asylum seekers starting late March 2025. The Council raised objections to the Home Office in March 2025 regarding pressures on local services but not on planning grounds. On 8 April 2025, the Council notifie...

The H-1B Modernization Final Rule is a final regulation issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), published in the Federal Register on December 18, 2024, and effective January 17, 2025. Its full title is "Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Program, and Program Improvements Affecting Other Nonimmigrant Workers." Though the H-1B Modernization Final Rule has not been directly amended, its impact has been modified by the following (“New Rules”): 1.       A separate final rule titled "Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions," which introduces wage-based weighting in the cap selection process (effective February 27, 2026, for FY 2027). 2.       A presidential proclamation imposing a $100,000 fee for certain new H-1B petitions (effective around September 21, 2025). The H-1B Modernization Final Rule, when read with the New Rules, al...

George and Amal Clooney, along with their twins Alexander and Ella, were recently granted French citizenshipthrough naturalization by decree , as announced in an official government journal entry on December 29, 2025. The French Foreign Ministry defended the decision amid some backlash, stating that the couple contributes "through their distinguished actions, to France’s international influence and cultural outreach." George Clooney, known for his acting career and philanthropy, and Amal Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, have ties to France including owning an 18th-century villa in Brignoles where they reside part-time. Reports also noted their desire to raise their children away from Hollywood's environment as a factor in their affinity for France. The rules for acquiring French nationality by naturalization (naturalisation par décret) are laid down in the Code civil (French Civil Code), Book I, Title II bis, and more specifically in Articles 21-14 to 21-27. Th...