All Articles: Deportation
Ignore what the Immigration Rules say about deportation, Upper Tribunal says
In Bikanu (s.11 TCEA; s.117C NIAA; para. 399D) [2021] UKUT 34 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal has confirmed that paragraph 399D of the Immigration Rules has no relevance to the human rights exceptions to deportation set out in section 117C(4)-(6) of the Nat ...
16th February 2021Deportation appeal not a “dress rehearsal” says Court of Appeal
Lowe v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 62 is about the role of the Upper Tribunal in deportation appeals. The role of an appellate court when reviewing the findings of fact made by the court below sounds straightforward: it ...
27th January 2021Minor offence can trigger deportation, human rights court confirms
The European Court of Human Rights has confirmed that the final offence committed by someone before deportation action is taken against them does not need to be particularly significant if they have a history of serious offending. In Munir Johanna v D ...
21st January 2021Supreme Court: no additional “exceptional circumstances” test in Zambrano deportation cases
In the case of Robinson (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 53 the Supreme Court has held that there is no “exceptional circumstances” test that applies in EU law to protect a non-EU national carer from depor ...
16th December 2020Is carrying a knife enough to get you deported?
Earlier this year the Court of Appeal looked at the meaning of an offence causing “serious harm” for the purposes of deportation law. Being convicted of such an offence is one of the ways a person can find themselves facing automatic depor ...
15th December 2020New unofficial policy on deporting Jamaicans who arrived as children reported
The Guardian reports that the Home Office has agreed with Jamaica not to deport Jamaican citizens who arrived in the UK under the age of 12. The scope of the reported agreement is unclear: it arises in the context of an upcoming deportation flight to ...
30th November 2020UK breached European convention in deporting man without proper human rights assessment
It’s rare to get a slobber-knocker of a case from the European Court of Human Rights like Unuane v The United Kingdom (application no. 80343/17). The court unanimously found that the UK’s supposedly Article 8 compliant deportation rules don’t pr ...
25th November 2020UK-born murderer to be deported after renouncing British citizenship
A key tenet of UK deportation law is that British nationals cannot be deported: section 3(5) of the Immigration Act 1971. And yet, Sajid Zulfiqar, a man born British in the UK, will, barring any further appeals, be deported to the land of his fathers: ...
23rd November 2020Man assured he wasn’t being deported is, in fact, being deported
When a client argues “but the Home Office told me…”, things usually go downhill pretty quickly. If it wasn’t in writing, it didn’t happen! Emiantor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 1461 is a classic example of ...
17th November 2020Government can deport people who had successfully appealed against deportation
Last year, Nick wrote up the case of MA (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWCA Civ 1252, summarising it as follows: If a foreign criminal wins their deportation appeal, can the Home Office try and deport them again, even ...
4th November 2020The comeback continues: Court of Appeal blocks another deportation
In KB (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 1385 the Court of Appeal followed the recent decisions of HA (Iraq) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 1176 and AA (Nigeria) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 1296 on the interpretation of the ...
30th October 2020Strasbourg reiterates importance of access to justice in national security deportation cases
Imagine being accused of a crime. Now imagine you’re not told what that crime is. Then imagine a whole trial taking place without you being told what you’ve done and without you seeing any documents to prove it. Every time the top-secret evidence ...
22nd October 2020Court of Appeal confirms change of course in deportation appeals
In AA (Nigeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 1296 the Court of Appeal has considered its first deportation appeal since the important case of HA (Iraq) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 1176. It confirms that the “unduly har ...
12th October 2020EU deportation protections after Brexit
From next year there will be two categories of EEA national: Those who began their residence in the UK before 31 December 2020; and Those who began their residence in the UK after 31 December 2020. The law a person is subject to will depend on whi ...
24th September 2020Major Court of Appeal judgment revisits “unduly harsh” test and other key concepts
If you are a deportation lawyer, stop what you are doing and read HA (Iraq) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 1176, handed down by the Court of Appeal on 4 September 2020. It will take you about three hours, but it will be worth it. The lead judgment of Lord Jus ...
8th September 2020Happy birthday from the Home Office: you’re being deported
In Mendes v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 924 the Court of Appeal considered the process for removing an EU citizen from the UK whilst they have a pending appeal against deportation. The legal issue is largely the same as ...
4th August 2020Briefing: what is the law on deporting non-EU foreign criminals and their human rights?
Deportation proceedings pit the rights of the individual against those of the state, appointed guardian of the public interest. And as very clearly stated in primary legislation, the deportation of foreign criminals is in the public interest. The law ...
2nd July 2020When is a foreign criminal not a foreign criminal?
That is the question answered by the Upper Tribunal in SC (paras A398 – 339D: ‘foreign criminal’: procedure) Albania [2020] UKUT 187 (IAC). The appellant was convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. So he is ...
22nd June 2020Revocation challenge fails despite ten-year deportation delay
Where a person is subject to a deportation order but wishes to remain in the UK, they must apply for the order to be revoked. The case of FH v SSHD [2020] EWHC 1482 considers this process and the applicable rules. The rules on revocation The Secretary ...
22nd June 2020What is an offence causing “serious harm”?
This deceptively simple question was the subject of the Court of Appeal’s decision in the three joined cases reported as Mahmood v Upper Tribunal (Immigration & Asylum Chamber) & Ors [2020] EWCA Civ 717. Sending a picture of your penis to a ...
12th June 2020Strasbourg approves deportation of Dutch-born man from the Netherlands
Chucking people out of a country they were born in is hard. It usually takes something pretty dramatic or pretty terrible — or both, as in the case of Azerkane v The Netherlands (application no. 3138/16). The facts Mr Azerkane was born in the Ne ...
9th June 2020Another deportation appeal founders on the “unduly harsh” test
We have written often on Free Movement about the meaning of the term “unduly harsh“. It is the test which people facing deportation must meet where arguing that their separation from a partner or child would amount to a breach of their hum ...
17th April 2020Deportation of Royal Marine with 14 years’ service upheld on appeal
In LE (St Vincent and the Grenadines) v SSHD [2020] EWCA Civ 505 the Court of Appeal upheld a decision to deport a Royal Marine who had fought for this country in Iraq and Afghanistan over a 14-year career in the armed forces. It is difficult to imagi ...
15th April 2020Prison time doesn’t count as “residence” in establishing enhanced EU law protection against deportation
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the judicial review case of Hafeez v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2020] EWHC 437 (Admin). In that judgment, handed down on 28 February, the High Court held that decisions to certify cases ...
24th March 2020Who counts as a “partner” for the purposes of deportation law?
When I was a young lad, there was a rule in our house that a girlfriend could only come to stay if the relationship was a “serious” one. During one particularly heated exchange regarding the enforcement of this rule, I recall a tedious and ...
20th March 2020How can a man with Asperger syndrome who grew up in Britain be deported?
How can a young man with Asperger syndrome and poor mental health, who has lived in the UK for the overwhelming majority of his life, be deported to Jamaica? The Voice newspaper reports on the case of Osime Brown, a 21-year-old man who the Home Office ...
11th March 2020Writing incredibly credible statements: the key to winning your clients’ cases
In asylum and criminal deportation and probably all areas of immigration, credibility is the key. Some of my own techniques for building credibility into a statement include: I “read” or “watch” the client’s narrative like a novel or a fil ...
10th March 2020EU citizens are protected by EU law, High Court reminds government
The High Court has held that the Home Office trying to apply its “deport first, appeal later” policy to EU citizens is incompatible with European Union law. The case is Hafeez v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2020] ...
9th March 2020Supreme Court: detention is unlawful if based on unlawful deportation order
The Supreme Court has found in the case of DN (Rwanda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 7 that the detention of a Rwandan man facing deportation was unlawful because the deportation order on which detention was based was itself ...
26th February 2020Having a British child “not necessarily a weighty factor” in deportation cases
Patel (British citizen child – deportation) [2020] UKUT 45 (IAC) considers the importance of British citizenship held by children of people being deported from the UK. The case concerned an appeal brought by Mr Patel, an Indian citizen, against ...
25th February 2020Dutch man wins deportation appeal after judge messes up legal test
The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Hussein v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 156 is another reminder of the multiple layers of protection from deportation which EU citizens enjoy. In particular, it focuses on the importance ...
18th February 2020Comment: Jamaica charter flight shows the need for deportation law reform
Last night a deportation flight took off for Jamaica, despite the protests of MPs and a last minute injunction that saw some removed from the plane. Many of the Jamaican citizens involved grew up in the UK — such as the man who has been here sin ...
11th February 2020Public interest in deporting criminals can be reduced, says Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has given judgment in Akinyemi v SSHD (No 2) [2019] EWCA Civ 2098, a long-running appeal concerning the deportation of a man who was born in the UK in 1983, and has never left. In reversing (again) the decision of the Upper Tribuna ...
12th December 2019Risk of trauma for children not enough to prevent deportation
For those lawyers, like my Lord and myself, who have spent many years practising in the family jurisdiction, this is not a comfortable interpretation to apply. But that is what Parliament has decided… So held Lord Justice Baker, giving judgment in S ...
5th December 2019Child abuse victim given deportation reprieve
The Court of Appeal has given judgment in CI (Nigeria) v SSHD [2019] EWCA Civ 2027, providing further guidance on the law relating to the deportation of foreign criminals, and in particular on the meaning in section 117C(4) of the Nationality Immigrat ...
27th November 2019EU children can be lawfully resident in the UK without exercising treaty rights
The Upper Tribunal judgment in MS (British citizenship; EEA appeals) Belgium [2019] UKUT 356 (IAC) confirms that certain EU citizen children in the UK can be considered lawfully resident for the purposes of Article 8 of the European Convention on Huma ...
19th November 2019