CJ McKinney
@cjmckinney.bsky.social
Parliamentary adviser on immigration and asylum. Child of the Common Travel Area. Views, if any, are my own. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/authors/cj-mckinney/
60,000 responses so far to the public consultation on changes to permanent residence rules, minister reports hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...
November 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM
60,000 responses so far to the public consultation on changes to permanent residence rules, minister reports hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...
Irish citizens are just exempt. Irish residents are exempt if entering the UK from ROI, as below. The exemptions cover both NI and GB, and there is no enforcement on ROI-NI crossings anyway.
November 25, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Irish citizens are just exempt. Irish residents are exempt if entering the UK from ROI, as below. The exemptions cover both NI and GB, and there is no enforcement on ROI-NI crossings anyway.
"Of the United Kingdom’s 100 fastest-growing companies, 54 have a foreign-born founder or co-founder" www.tenentrepreneurs.org/job-creators...
November 24, 2025 at 8:18 AM
"Of the United Kingdom’s 100 fastest-growing companies, 54 have a foreign-born founder or co-founder" www.tenentrepreneurs.org/job-creators...
People on family or human rights visas can apply for exceptional permission to claim benefits, and the Home Office used to make them wait longer for ILR if they did, although that policy was suspended in 2022. So there is a sort of precedent for this approach.
November 20, 2025 at 8:24 AM
People on family or human rights visas can apply for exceptional permission to claim benefits, and the Home Office used to make them wait longer for ILR if they did, although that policy was suspended in 2022. So there is a sort of precedent for this approach.
Not many groups of migrants would be affected by a longer path to ILR if claiming benefits, since you normally can’t claim benefits unless you have ILR. Refugees and other humanitarian cases, primarily, assuming EU citizens covered by Brexit rules are exempt. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
November 20, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Not many groups of migrants would be affected by a longer path to ILR if claiming benefits, since you normally can’t claim benefits unless you have ILR. Refugees and other humanitarian cases, primarily, assuming EU citizens covered by Brexit rules are exempt. www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...
The ONS now thinks that net migration (immigration minus emigration) of non-EU citizens was just over one million in 2023, before almost halving in 2024 to 528,000. That compares with 186,000 in 2019.
November 18, 2025 at 11:19 AM
The ONS now thinks that net migration (immigration minus emigration) of non-EU citizens was just over one million in 2023, before almost halving in 2024 to 528,000. That compares with 186,000 in 2019.
She also clarified the government's position on taking asylum seekers' jewellery at the border: "We are not taking jewellery at the border; I cannot say it any more clearly than that".
November 18, 2025 at 12:54 AM
She also clarified the government's position on taking asylum seekers' jewellery at the border: "We are not taking jewellery at the border; I cannot say it any more clearly than that".
Interesting comment from the Home Secretary today on the significance of bringing back adjudicators to decide asylum appeals hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Interesting comment from the Home Secretary today on the significance of bringing back adjudicators to decide asylum appeals hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...
The Home Secretary's statement to MPs channels Neil Kinnock in 1985, referring to the "grotesque chaos" of asylum seekers housed in hotels and "shuttled around in taxis".
November 17, 2025 at 5:45 PM
The Home Secretary's statement to MPs channels Neil Kinnock in 1985, referring to the "grotesque chaos" of asylum seekers housed in hotels and "shuttled around in taxis".
Not that the paper is purely about asylum, having looked over it. A lot of the measures in Part II would apply to the general run of people in the UK illegally, making it tougher for them to regularise their stay or contest removal, if they were to work as intended.
November 17, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Not that the paper is purely about asylum, having looked over it. A lot of the measures in Part II would apply to the general run of people in the UK illegally, making it tougher for them to regularise their stay or contest removal, if they were to work as intended.
The Home Office has now published its much-trailed policy paper on changes to asylum rules www.gov.uk/government/p...
November 17, 2025 at 3:37 PM
The Home Office has now published its much-trailed policy paper on changes to asylum rules www.gov.uk/government/p...
It doesn’t necessarily follow that reviewing refugee status means that more people will be removed. It is already notionally the case that status is reviewed after five years, but in practice refugees don’t lose residence rights at this point.
November 16, 2025 at 9:10 PM
It doesn’t necessarily follow that reviewing refugee status means that more people will be removed. It is already notionally the case that status is reviewed after five years, but in practice refugees don’t lose residence rights at this point.
The top civil servant at the Home Office has ordered a review into the culture within Border Force and Immigration Enforcement, following reports of "concerning behaviour in some of our frontline services" committees.parliament.uk/publications...
November 11, 2025 at 9:43 PM
The top civil servant at the Home Office has ordered a review into the culture within Border Force and Immigration Enforcement, following reports of "concerning behaviour in some of our frontline services" committees.parliament.uk/publications...
High Court conclusion on concern about crimes committed by the residents of the Bell Hotel, which houses asylum seekers in Epping near London www.judiciary.uk/judgments/ep...
November 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
High Court conclusion on concern about crimes committed by the residents of the Bell Hotel, which houses asylum seekers in Epping near London www.judiciary.uk/judgments/ep...
Home Office to trial live facial recognition cameras at a UK port to catch people arriving from Dublin in breach of a deportation order (there being no routine immigration control on journeys from Ireland) www.gov.uk/government/p...
November 5, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Home Office to trial live facial recognition cameras at a UK port to catch people arriving from Dublin in breach of a deportation order (there being no routine immigration control on journeys from Ireland) www.gov.uk/government/p...
Existing private sector digital ID is linked up with government databases and could be used to prove that people have the right to work, private sector digital ID providers say committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...
November 5, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Existing private sector digital ID is linked up with government databases and could be used to prove that people have the right to work, private sector digital ID providers say committees.parliament.uk/writtenevide...
Coming by 2029 to a general election manifesto near you www.politico.eu/article/labo...
November 4, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Coming by 2029 to a general election manifesto near you www.politico.eu/article/labo...
The government's announcement on housing asylum seekers in military sites is all the more striking when the minister responsible for asylum (since reshuffled) was so down on them as recently as June committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
October 31, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The government's announcement on housing asylum seekers in military sites is all the more striking when the minister responsible for asylum (since reshuffled) was so down on them as recently as June committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence...
Over 40% of international students who arrived in the UK in 2022 had switched to a work visa by 2024 (mostly the Graduate visa designed for that purpose), Migration Observatory analysis shows migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/br...
October 31, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Over 40% of international students who arrived in the UK in 2022 had switched to a work visa by 2024 (mostly the Graduate visa designed for that purpose), Migration Observatory analysis shows migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/br...
It will, but not on its own, according to the underlying guidance and secondary legislation. (In practice a lot of employers seem to think that anything with your name on it is proof of right to work.)
October 27, 2025 at 1:34 PM
It will, but not on its own, according to the underlying guidance and secondary legislation. (In practice a lot of employers seem to think that anything with your name on it is proof of right to work.)
It doesn't seem as though the UK has much of a border if you come into port on a private boat, unless you choose to inform Border Force that you're coming, based on these inspection findings www.gov.uk/government/n...
October 27, 2025 at 10:43 AM
It doesn't seem as though the UK has much of a border if you come into port on a private boat, unless you choose to inform Border Force that you're coming, based on these inspection findings www.gov.uk/government/n...
Not great headlines for the asylum system
October 25, 2025 at 9:58 PM
Not great headlines for the asylum system
The government is also giving fairly significant money to local councils for them to buy homes for asylum seekers, as part of a pilot scheme
October 20, 2025 at 10:13 PM
The government is also giving fairly significant money to local councils for them to buy homes for asylum seekers, as part of a pilot scheme
Gail's bakery as a case study in migrant labour dynamics post-Brexit: www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
October 20, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Gail's bakery as a case study in migrant labour dynamics post-Brexit: www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w...
The Border Security Command, set up about a year ago when the Labour government took office, is absorbing other parts of the Home Office following a review committees.parliament.uk/publications...
October 16, 2025 at 9:02 AM
The Border Security Command, set up about a year ago when the Labour government took office, is absorbing other parts of the Home Office following a review committees.parliament.uk/publications...