• BA Hons (Sussex University)
• Ph.D (University of London)
• Solicitor (Admitted 1988)

• Migration law and policy, particularly family migration and citizenship
• Community legal services

• Migration Law
• Research Skills

Helena Wray is Reader in Law. Her research interests lie in international and UK migration law and policy, particularly as it affects families and citizenship. She has published in leading journals and provided expert reports to parties in legal challenges including the current judicial reviews of the pre-entry language requirement for partners (judgment expected in the Court of Appeal shortlyBibi and another v SSHD [2013] EWCA Civ 322 ) and in a forthcoming judicial review of the minimum income requirement for partners (judgment awaited0. She is editor of Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law and UK country expert for the European Union Democracy Observatory on Citizenship.

Helena currently teaches on International Migration and the Law (postgraduate module) and Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law (undergraduate module). She is programme leader of the LLM and has also taught dissertation skills to postgraduates for a number of years. She is supervising several PhD students on subjects including female Indian spousal migrants, refugee law and same sex relationships, and the legal protection of migrant domestic workers. She welcomes applications from students interested in her areas of expertise.

Helena is currently working on a Nuffield-funded comparative study of the regulation of spousal migration in Europe and US. She has participated in several other research projects including the EU (FP7) funded Genderace project on multiple discrimination and IMPIC (Immigration Policies in Comparison). She is also working with Dr Katharine Charsley (University of Bristol) on a special issue of Men and Masculinities titled ‘The Invisible (Migrant) Man’ which follows a workshop held at Middlesex at 2011.

In 2010, she convened a conference, sponsored by Middlesex University and the Migration and Law Network, on Long-term Residence and Naturalisation in the UK.She has spoken at a wide range of academic and practitioner-oriented conferences and other events in the UK and abroad. In March 2013, she gave evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration during their investigation of the new family migration rules. In and, 2011, she addressed the AGM of Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (http://jcwi.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/new-video-talk-dr-helena-wray-on-family-migration/).With Alison Hunter of Wesley Gryk Solicitors, she writes the chapter on family members for Free Movement of Workers: Implementation in the UK, an annual report commissioned by the European Union and co-ordinated by Centre for Migration Law, Radboud University, Nijmegen. She is a member of the executive committee of the Migration and Law Network and has authored or co-authored several policy submissions on behalf of the Network.

Helena has a longstanding interest in the provision of legal services. She is a founder member, trustee and former Chair of Barnet Law Service, a law centre providing legal advice and representation to those living and working in the London Borough of Barnet. She has a PhD from SOAS, University of London and a degree in French Literature from Sussex University. She is a solicitor and, before becoming an academic, worked for several years in a City of London law firm.  

Current Responsibilities:

• Programme Leader, LLM
• Module Leader, International Migration and the Law (Postgraduate Core/Optional Module)
• Module Leader, LLM Dissertation

Publications:

Books:

• Regulation of Marriage Migration into the UK: A Stranger in the Home Farnham: Ashgate 2011 http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409403388
• Textbook on Immigration and Asylum Law (Oxford: OUP) 5th edition 2012 (contributory author; 3 chapters)

Articles:

• 'Regulating Spousal Migration in Denmark' Journal of Immigration, Nationality and Asylum Law (forthcoming)
• 'Greater than the sum of their parts: UK Supreme Court Decisions on Family Migration' Public Law (forthcoming)
• 'Teixeira and Ibrahim: Looking back, looking forward or inward?' FMW: Online journal on free movemnt of workers in the European Union 2 (August) 2011 26-37http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=475&langId=en&pubId=6022&type=2&furtherPubs=yes.
• 'Moulding the Migrant Family' Legal Studies 29(4) 2009 592-618.
• 'The Points Based System: A Blunt Instrument' Journal of Immigration Asylum and Nationality Law 23(3) 2009 231-251.
• 'Integration Requirements and Family Life' Journal of Immigration Nationality and Asylum Law 22(4) 2008 317-321.
• 'Hidden purpose: ethnic minority international marriages and 'intention to live together' in P. Shah and W. Menski eds: Migration, Diasporas and Legal Systems in Europe, London and New York: Routledge-Cavendish 2006,163-184.
• 'The Aliens Act 1905 and the Immigration Dilemma', Journal of Law and Society, Vol.33, No.2, June 2006,302-323.
• 'Guiding the gatekeepers: Entry Clearance for Settlement on the Indian Sub-continent', Tottell's Journal of Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Law, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2006,112-129.
• 'An Ideal Husband? Marriages of Convenience, Moral gatekeeping and Immigration to the UK', European Journal of Migration and Law, Vol. 8, Autumn 2006, 303-320.
• 'Legal Needs Research in a Local Community' Civil Justice Quarterly Vol. 19, October 2000,386-404.
• 'Entry Clearance Applications for Spouses when the Sponsor is on Benefit' Tolley's immigration Law and Practice 13(4) 1999 133-5 (with Mahmud Quayum)

Book chapters:

• 'Family, Migration and New Labour' in Juss, S. ed. Research Companion to Migration Theory and Practice (Farnham: Ashgate) 2013, 639-660
• 'Anytime, Any Place, Anywhere: Entry Clearance, Marriage Migration and the Border' in Charsley, K. ed. Transnational Marriage: New Perspectives from Europe and Beyond, (New York, London: Routledge) 2012, 41-59
• 'An Ideal Husband? Marriages of Convenience, Moral Gatekeeping and Immigration to the UK' in Guild, E. and Minderhoud, P. eds. The First Decade of EU Migration and Asylum Law. Leiden, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff 2011, 351-373.
• 'Hidden Purpose: Ethnic Minority International Marriages and 'Intention to Live Together' in P. Shah and W. Menski eds: Migration, Diasporas and Legal Systems in Europe, London and New York: Routledge-Cavendish 2006,163-184.

Conferences and Workshops Convened:

• Long Term Residence and Naturalisation in the UK : Middlesex University/Migration and Law Network, Middlesex University, September 2010)
• The Invisible (Migrant) Man, Middlesex University/University of Bristol, Middlesex University, January 2012

Selected Conferences and Presentations:

• EU Freedom of Movement, Family Members and the UK courts, Implementing and Delivering Free Movement of EU Workers and Citizens in the UK, London 2013
• The Family Reunification Directive and its application in the Member States Family Reunification – a barrier or a facilitator of integration,Dublin 2013
• The Brightest and the Best: Family Migration in Western Europe; Middlesex Law Debates; Middlesex University, London 2012
• Same-Sex Couples and Immigration in UK and US; InterLaw; Ashursts, London 2012
• A Thing Apart: Men and the Regulation of Family Migration; Middlesex University/University of Bristol; Middlesex University, London 2012
• Pre-entry Language Testing for Spouses;Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association, Matrix Chambers, London 2011
• The Family Migration Consultation; AGM of Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants; Garden Court Chambers, London 2011
• Deprivation of citizenship and immigration control in the UK; Centre for Migration Law; Radboud University, Nijmegen 2011
• The ‘Texeira’ and ‘Ibrahim’ Judgements, International Conference of Network of Experts on Free Movement of Workers; London 2010
• Family Migration: Is Coherence Possible? Seminar of European Experts on Family Migration; Social Science Research Institute, Berlin 2010
• The Invisible Man, Migration and GenderPanel, Metropolis Conference, The Hague 2010
• Workers, the Welfare State and Human Rights; China/EU Human Rights Seminar; Beijing 2009
• ‘The Family and the Nation’: The View from the UK; centre for Migration Law; Radboud University, Nijmegen 2009
• Moulding the Migrant Family, Gender,Family Responsibility and Legal Change, Sussex University, Brighton 2008
• Family Life and Integration; Migration and Law Network; Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London 2008
• UK ethnic minority international marriages and the immigration rules;Hart Workshop; Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London 2006

Other:

• Co-Editor (with Gina Clayton) Journal of immigration Asylum and Nationality Law
• Has undertaken several research and consultancy projects; currently principal researcher in Nuffield-funded comparative study of control of marriage migration in Europe and US
• Acted as expert witness for claimants in judicial review of pre-entry language test for spousal migrants (R (on the application of Chapti and others v SSHD [2011] EWHC 3370m (Admin); under appeal to Court of Appeal)
• UK country expert, European Union Observatory on Citizenship and Access to Citizenship and and its Impact on Immigration Integration
• Founder member, former Chair and Trustee Barnet Law Service, a law centre offering legal advice and representation to those living and working in London Borough of Barnet
• Invited to address seminar on family migration at Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants AGM 2011: http://jcwi.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/new-video-talk-dr-helena-wray-on-family-migration/

Languages spoken

French