All Articles: Procedure
Upper Tribunal cases on fair hearings in immigration cases
Three recent cases on fair hearings in immigration cases, all from President McCloskey. All make interesting reading. Firstly, the headnote from AM (fair hearing) Sudan [2015] UKUT 656 (IAC): (i) Independent judicial research is inappropriate. It is n ...
13th January 2016Upper Tribunal latest on ETS appeals and common costs orders
I am starting to detect subtle* signs that the Upper Tribunal is unimpressed by attempts to litigate ETS cases from within the UK. These are the cases where a person stands accused (on unknown, undisclosed evidence) of cheating in English language te ...
7th January 2016Costs protection in the Upper Tribunal for legally aided and other litigants
With many thanks to the excellent and eagle-eyed Tim Buley of Landmark Chambers, this post covers the procedural protections against costs orders for legally aided and other litigants in the Upper Tribunal. This is a major issue in judicial review pro ...
17th December 2015Waiting for legal aid not an excuse for missing time limits
In R (on the application of Kigen & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 1286 the Court of Appeal considers the question of whether waiting for the outcome of an application for legal aid funding made to the Legal ...
14th December 2015Upper Tribunal continues to refuse to enforce procedure rules against Home Office
In the recent case of R (on the application of Turay) v Secretary of State for the Home Department IJR [2015] UKUT 485 (IAC) Mr Ockelton, the Deputy President of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal, concludes (1) that applicants ...
2nd December 2015Legal aid residence test found lawful by Court of Appeal
UPDATE 26/2/16: permission to appeal from the Court of Appeal has been granted so the Court of Appeal judgment will not be the last word. Supreme Court grants our client @publiclawprojct permission tochallenge racially discriminatory Residence Test: h ...
26th November 2015President gives guidance on difference between human rights and public law challenges
The latest instalment of President McCloskey’s Massive Open Online Course (“MOOC“) on immigration judicial review is aimed as much at judges as lawyers. In R (on the application of SA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (hu ...
4th November 2015One party is more equal than others in the Upper Tribunal
Seasoned public law lawyers have felt for some time that it is far harder to succeed in immigration judicial review applications in the Upper Tribunal than it ever was in the High Court. Cases that would have been very likely to succeed will not only ...
9th October 2015President gives guidance on guidance in latest instalment of online training course
In the latest instalment of the ongoing online training course delivered by President McCloskey via BAILII on the nature, scope and practice of appeal and judicial review proceedings in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, ONM (Remittal to FtT with dir ...
22nd September 2015No human rights in EEA appeals says Upper Tribunal
The Upper Tribunal has issued the much awaited case addressing whether human rights grounds can be argued in an EU rights of residence appeal. The determination is Amirteymour and others (EEA appeals; human rights) [2015] UKUT 466 (IAC) and the offici ...
21st September 2015The Immigration Bill 2015
The Immigration Bill 2015 was published on 17 September 2015. For now, this post provides links to further reading and resources on the Bill and also some commentary on the appeals sections, which are of the most direct interest to immigration lawyer ...
18th September 2015High Court finds Legal Aid Agency “asked itself wrong question” about means assessment
In a judgment that may be of interest to legal aid lawyers, the High Court has overturned a rejection by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) of a legal aid claim by Duncan Lewis solicitors. The Legal Aid Agency should have considered whether the means assessme ...
8th September 2015Sir Brian Leveson admonishes immigration solicitors
The latest in the increasingly long line of cases in which the judiciary has administered public dressings down for immigration lawyers is R (On the Application Of Akram & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1359 (Admin ...
2nd September 2015Precedent facts, standards of review and deception
It turns out that Zayn Malik, formerly of One Direction, knew how to quit while he was ahead. It is a rare talent not universally shared, as shown by a number of recent cases in the higher courts, one of the latest being R (On the Application Of Giri) ...
28th August 2015Extending time limits for late appeals
The Upper Tribunal returns to the issue of extending time for late appeals in the case of RK (Allowed appeals – service on respondent) Albania [2015] UKUT 331 (IAC). The special pleading by the Home Office on this occasion is around the “agre ...
3rd July 2015Presidential Guidance Note No 1 of 2015: Wasted Costs and Unreasonable Costs
New (to me at any rate) is the Presidential Guidance Note No 1 of 2015: Wasted Costs and Unreasonable Costs, signed on 18 May 2015. It goes a bit further than Cancino in emphasising the high threshold for wasted costs. Arguably too far: Even where a ...
23rd June 2015Unrepresented litigant must understand nature of case against her
In an interesting short Upper Tribunal judicial review determination, Upper Tribunal Judge Coker finds on the facts of the particular case that a judge in earlier, separate proceedings had erred in failing to ensure that the reasons for refusal of asy ...
4th June 2015Indemnity costs in immigration judicial reviews
Discretion in relation to costs is a wide one and awarding costs on an indemnity basis against an unsuccessful party is a departure from the norm. The substantive matter in the case of R (on the application of Kaienga) v Secretary of State for the Ho ...
29th May 2015Reconsideration of old human rights applications
The Home Office has introduced a new policy on reconsideration of old human rights claims that were refused before 6 April 2015 with no right of appeal: Requests for reconsiderations of human rights or protection based claims refused without right of ...
21st May 2015Mandatory orders in immigration judicial review applications
The issue of when the Upper Tribunal might make a mandatory order requiring the Home Office to act in a specific way was considered in the case of R (on the application of Sultana) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (mandatory order – bas ...
20th May 2015Wasted costs ordered against solicitor and counsel and case struck out
In the case of R (on the application of SN) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (striking out – principles) IJR [2015] UKUT 227(IAC) the President of the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber not only strikes out the applicant̵ ...
14th May 2015What amounts to a “human rights claim” generating a new right of appeal?
Rights of appeal under the Immigration Act 2014 are only available in refugee cases and if ‘the Secretary of State has decided to refuse a human rights claim made by [the person]’ (amended section 82 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act ...
29th April 2015Can you make a new application while awaiting outcome of another application or appeal?
The word “hopeless” appears five times in the determination of R (on the application of Rashid) v Secretary of State for the Home Department IJR [2015] UKUT 190 (IAC). While the judge remains fairly cool she was clearly irritated with Coun ...
23rd April 2015Mind the gap: immigration rules and human rights are not coterminous
In a useful case the Upper Tribunal addresses one of the “mind the gap” differences between the Immigration Rules and the requirements of human rights law. There is a growing body of case law that recognises that the two bodies of law are ...
22nd April 2015Rights and grounds of appeal: commencement and transition
The major changes to rights of appeal and removal powers wrought by the Immigration Act 2014 took full effect on 6 April 2015, although with some transitional provisions for existing cases. This blog post, based on the second edition of my Immigration ...
17th April 2015NHS surcharge for immigration applications
A new “health surcharge” was introduced for all new applications for entry clearance or leave to remain made on or after 6 April 2015. The charge is £150 per year for students and £200 per year for all other types of application. A charge is pa ...
15th April 2015