In R (TDT, by his litigation friend Tara Topteagarden) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 1395 the Court of Appeal considered the threshold at which the duty to protect trafficked persons under article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights comes into play and...
Baigazieva v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 1088 is about what happens to a non-EEA citizen spouse if they divorce their EEA citizen partner. Article 13(2) of the Citizens Rights Directive 2004 lays down a set of criteria on how the non-EEA citizen can retain...
Most unaccompanied child asylum seekers and refugees will be “children in need” for the purposes of the Children Act 1989. So the issue of whether or not local authorities have properly exercised their duties to provide accommodation and care frequently arises for this vulnerable group. In R (KI) v London...
The Court of Session has refused to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg to determine whether the UK’s notice that it is leaving the EU under Article 50 can be cancelled. Given that the subject matter involved “the most contentious and political debate...
A Church of England bishop accused of committing crimes against humanity during the Rwandan genocide has won an appeal by the Home Office challenging his right to settle in the UK. The case is Secretary of State for the Home Department v Ruhumuliza [2018] EWCA Civ 1178. The legal points arising...
Just a few days ago Thomas Beamont wrote on this blog about the Court of Appeal’s decision in Mwesezi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 1104 in which the court upheld a decision to deport a foreign criminal. In Secretary of State for the Home Department...
Today marked a big step in the advancement of the rights of same-sex couples. Following a reference made to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) by the Romanian Constitutional Court, the CJEU has ruled that “spouses” in Directive 2004/38 include same-sex spouses. The case is C-673/16 Relu Adrian Coman and Others...
In ZN (Afghanistan) and KA (Iraq) [2018] EWCA Civ 1059, the Court of Appeal considered the tricky issue of costs in public law cases, in a scenario where the appeals were withdrawn following consent orders. The main points The judgment is interesting for three reasons: it summarises various authorities on...
The test for an Article 8 claim to stay in the UK within the Immigration Rules is whether there are “insurmountable obstacles” to continuing family life outside the UK. But even if an applicant does pass this test, there is a further hurdle: whether removal is disproportionate. An important question...
Today the Court of Justice of the European Union handed down a decision in the case of C-647/16 Adil Hassan v Prefet du Pas-de-Calais concerning the Dublin III Regulation. The press summary is here. Practitioners will be well aware how intricate and complex the provisions of the Dublin III regulations are. Essentially,...
The European Court of Human Rights took a strict approach to non-exhaustion of domestic remedies in the case of Khaksar v United Kingdom (application no. 2654/18), decided last month. The message to potential applicants is clear: all domestic remedies need to be exhausted. That includes applying for permission for judicial review...
R (Eroje) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 1010 (Admin) is a shocking story of Home Office incompetence which led to the unnecessary and unlawful detention of someone who had made repeated attempts to leave the UK voluntarily. Ms Eroje is a Nigerian national and spent...
In Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v HD (CHB) (Second interim decision) [2018] UKUT 148 (AAC), the Upper Tribunal decided to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union. The question is whether an EU national who was self-employed before pregnancy and childbirth can rely on C-507/12...
The case of R (Lauzikas) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWHC 1045 (Admin) marks an important development in the law on the detention of European nationals pending deportation. The key finding is that the standards set out in the Free Movement directive, including proportionality and necessity, must...
The Court of Appeal in Youssef v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 933 has decided that the appellant was disqualified from refugee status because he had incited terrorist acts in general. There was no requirement for there to be a link between his incitement and a specific...
The Court of Appeal in SC (Zimbabwe) v SSHD [2018] EWCA Civ 929 gives us yet another new decision on the deportation of foreign criminals, this time on the definition of “persistent offenders”. Its discussion of the concept, while interesting enough, makes no real changes to the law as set down previously by...
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Parveen v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 932 seems to be an additional nail in the coffin for the once renowned (and now shut down) Malik Law Chambers, with the court repeatedly criticising the firm’s preparation of the application...
The responsibility to take the utmost care to ensure that the Points Based System, Immigration Rules and guidance are followed remains with the sponsor. A Mr Talpada attempted to challenge the applicability of the Rules and guidance to his case on the facts and by using common law legal principles...
Before she travelled to the land of her fathers, Yasmeen Din was born to Pakistani parents in the Churchill Hospital in Oxford on 26 June 1968. By virtue of section 11(1) of the British Nationality Act 1981, read with section 4 of the British Nationality Act 1948 and section 2(1)(a)...
Fresh out of the Court of Justice of the European Union is the interesting case of C-82/16 K.A. & Others v Belgium. A significant part of the decision deals with the 2008 Returns Directive, which does not apply to the UK. The remainder of the court’s judgment deals with the issue of...
In Secretary of State for the Home Department v MA (Somalia) [2018] EWCA Civ 994 the Court of Appeal grappled with the thorny question of what issues are relevant when a decision-maker is assessing the cessation of refugee status under the Qualification Directive. Article 11(1)(e) of the directive states that A...
Ararso v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 845 is an unusual appeal about the extent to which the Home Office must take account of orders made in previous judicial review proceedings when deciding to re-detain someone. The Court of Appeal held that injunctions against removal...
The enhanced protection in Article 28(3) of Directive 2004/38/EC — that a person may only be expelled on “imperative grounds of public security” if they have resided in a member state for ten years prior to the decision to expel them — benefits only those who have satisfied the eligibility...
The Court of Appeal in DW (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 797 has stepped in to overturn the First-tier Tribunal’s decision to block the deportation of an individual on the basis of his family life. Page contentsFactual backgroundThe public interest in deportation of foreign...
In Ryanair v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 899 the budget airline, no stranger to litigation, challenged the imposition of a £2,000 fine on it for carrying a man from Germany to the UK who, said the Secretary of State, had failed to produce the...
A lawyer is not merely a conduit through which their client’s grievances can be aired in court. The grievance must be formulated into a coherent and stateable case and presented in a professional, honest, and courteous manner. The Solicitors Regulation Authority requiressolicitors in England and Wales to refrain from any “attempt...
In the case of C-353/16 MP v Secretary of State for the Home Department, decided yesterday, the Court of Justice of the European Union has found that A person who has in the past been tortured in his country of origin is eligible for ‘subsidiary protection’ if he faces a...
In Ribeli v Entry Clearance Officer, Pretoria [2018] EWCA Civ 611, the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the “rigorous and demanding” nature of the adult dependent relative rules, following the judgment in BRITCITS v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] EWCA Civ 368. Proving that you have an emotional and psychological...
When feeding my son, I sometimes have to heap the spoon up with something he likes to eat, to disguise something he does not. This is what the Home Office did when applying for permission to appeal in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Barry [2018] EWCA Civ...
On 10 April 2018, Advocate General Bobek delivered his Opinion in C-89/17 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Banger, following a reference made to the Court of Justice of the European Union, by the former President of the Upper Tribunal, McCloskey J. There were four questions referred to...
The Upper Tribunal has in AS (Safety of Kabul) Afghanistan CG [2018] UKUT 118 (IAC) given new country guidance in cases concerning removal to Kabul. The new guidance covers two main areas of concern. The first is the risk, on return to Kabul, from the Taliban. The second focuses on...
Six months after the release of the Advocate General’s non-binding Opinion in the joined cases of C-316/16 B v Land Baden-Württemberg and C-424/16 Secretary of State for the Home Department v Franco Vomero, the Court of Justice of the European Union has today handed down its final judgment. The case revolved around the interpretation of article 28(3)(a) of Directive 2004/38/EC:...
Nearly three years after the main appeal provisions of the Immigration Act 2014 commenced, the Upper Tribunal has turned its attention to the question lying at the heart of almost all appeals lodged since then: what is a human rights appeal anyway? There are two new cases which more or...
In the wide-ranging and somewhat sorry case of El Gazzaz v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 532 the Court of Appeal has confirmed the strength of the presumption in favour of deporting foreign criminals. Page contentsCriminal convictions and mental ill-healthDeporting foreign criminals is in the public...
Lord Justices Hickinbottom, Kitchin and Coulson have delivered an interesting judgment concerning the free-standing balancing exercise of Article 8 ECHR in the context of a leave curtailment. The case is Tikka v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] EWCA Civ 632. The Court of Appeal found that the...
MK and Gega v R [2018] EWCA Crim 667 is about who should face the burden of proof when a criminal defendant relies on the new “victim of slavery/trafficking” defence in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. In the first appellate judgment on this issue, the Court of Appeal has ruled...
Back in July 2015, the Upper Tribunal delivered a puzzling judgment in the case of R (Bilal Ahmed) v SSHD (EEA/s 10 appeal rights: effect (IJR) [2015] UKUT 436 (IAC). The nub of the decision was that where the Secretary of State refuses an application on the basis that the...
Secretary of State for the Home Department v Said [2018] EWCA Civ 627 is about how long the Home Office can delay making an immigration decision before the applicants can successfully claim for damages under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Home Office was appealing a decision from the High...
The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in T.C.E. v Germany (application no. 58681/12) has a whiff of Groundhog Day. For the second time in just over six months the court found that a Nigerian national convicted of drug-related crimes could not prevent deportation by relying on his relationship with his...
In the recently reported case of Elsakhawy (immigration officers: PACE) [2018] UKUT 86 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal dismissed an appeal concerning the applicability of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) to immigration officers exercising powers of “pastoral” interview. PACE is the law which safeguards the rights of those...
