All Articles: Deportation
Can children be deported from the UK?
Yes. Children can be removed from the UK as part of a family. They can, on paper, also be deported in their own right for criminal offending: the Home Secretary’s power of deportation under the Immigration Act 1971 is not limited to under-18s, a ...
8th September 2021Deportation of father not “unduly harsh” on child in loving home
A Jamaican man who has been in the UK for over 20 years must be deported, the Court of Appeal has confirmed. The court held that Logan Reid, 51, had not established that his deportation would be “unduly harsh” on his teenage son, given the ...
10th August 2021Supreme Court dismisses deportation appeal of man living in UK since he was 9
In Sanambar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 2 the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal against deportation of an Iranian citizen who arrived in the United Kingdom aged nine in 2005. He had committed several knifepoint robber ...
16th July 2021Revocation of deportation orders under EU law after Brexit
Non-EU citizens can potentially have a deportation order against them revoked where they have acquired or could acquire rights as family members of EU nationals. Such opportunities will continue to be relevant to a specific group of people for some ye ...
30th June 2021Protections for EU citizens served with notice of deportation
When the Home Office want to deport an EU citizen who has committed a criminal offence it adopts a two-stage process. First it issues a Deportation Liability Notice (DLN). This lets the person know that the Home Office is considering deportation and i ...
29th June 2021“My passport is just my way out of here”: the Brits affected by deportation
Interviewer: What do you think it means to be British? Mary: It is a passport. To be British now, I’m sorry to say this, but it is a passport. That is it. That is what being British means to me. I have lost faith in the country which I used to call ...
23rd June 2021Rehabilitative work in the community no barrier to deportation
In Jallow v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 788 the Court of Appeal looked at the weight that should be given to the rehabilitation of a foreign national offender in their appeal against deportation. Not a great deal, conclu ...
9th June 2021Murderer’s bid to be deported foiled by extradition request
A convicted murderer and father of a Portuguese football star has lost a legal challenge arguing for his own deportation in order to get out of prison earlier than the Parole Board will allow. The case is R (Lopes) v Secretary of State for the Home De ...
3rd June 2021Criminality undermines strong private life case in deportation appeal
In KM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 693, the Court of Appeal concluded that someone with an otherwise “strong” case for remaining in the UK based on their private life might not have a “particularly str ...
20th May 2021Court of Appeal considers unduly harsh deportation test (again)
The Court of Appeal has considered, again, whether it is “unduly harsh” for British children to be separated from their father on the basis that he is a foreign criminal. The case is TD (Albania) v Secretary of State for the Home Departmen ...
13th May 2021Judges can decide after the hearing whether an out-of-country appeal is fair
Juba (s. 94B: access to lawyers) [2021] UKUT 95 (IAC) is the latest judgment dealing with the “deport first appeal later” policy, following on from the famous Kiarie and Byndloss case. In Juba, the Upper Tribunal has found that it was acceptable f ...
6th May 2021Ignore 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 2020