In yet another Afghan evacuation case, the court in KBL v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 87 (Admin) looked at whether the guidance issued for the benefit of potential beneficiaries of the evacuation, known as “Operation Pitting”, created a legitimate expectation that Afghans in similar circumstances...
In a judgment handed down last Friday, the High Court has cast doubt on the British citizenship status of children born in the United Kingdom before 2 October 2000 to EU citizens who did not at that time possess indefinite leave to remain. The case is R (on the application of...
It is not often you’ll see an Upper Tribunal judge simply concede defeat trying to understand what on earth the immigration rules mean, but this is exactly what happened in this unreported Appendix EU durable partner appeal. For those who have battled the complexities of Appendix EU, there is some...
Yes, although only in very limited circumstances. This was the conclusion of the Court of Appeal in Alam & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 30. For those who don’t know, the House of Lords held in Chikwamba v Secretary of State for the...
Asylum procedure in Europe has been examined in three recent decisions. In two, the European Court of Human Rights found actual or imminent violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In the other, the Court of Justice of the European Union considered the proper interpretation of...
Those following the law around the prosecution of arrival in small boats may be interested in the ruling from the preparatory hearing in R v Mohamed and others. The purpose of the hearing was to provide a clear ruling on points of law that are likely to arise time again...
In a powerful judgment given on 21 December 2022, the High Court ordered the Secretary of State for the Home Department to immediately increase the weekly support payments made to asylum seekers to £45. This is the largest ever single increase in the rate of asylum support and is made...
The Brexit fall out continues with the High Court finding in the case of Independent Monitoring Authority v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3274 (Admin) that the EU settlement scheme is unlawful. The scheme was set up by the British government to transition the lawful basis...
In the clause “had that citizenship by his birth, adoption, naturalisation or registration in the United Kingdom”, does the requirement for it to be in the United Kingdom apply to just registration or all of the other means of acquiring citizenship on the list? This was the question before the...
The Upper Tribunal has issued country guidance about the risk from gangs in El Salvador. In EMAP (Gang violence – Convention Reason) El Salvador CG [2022] UKUT 00335 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal makes helpful findings about the general context in which persecution by gangs takes place in El Salvador and...
The High Court has concluded in the case of AAA and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3230 (Admin) that the UK government’s Rwanda plan is lawful. The individual decisions in the case were inadequate and will need to be re-made, but that is no...
Regular readers of Free Movement will be aware of the recent judgment finding serious breaches of the duty of candour by the Home Office in the mobile phone seizures case. Jed Pennington has discussed the judgment in a previous post. But, what is the duty of candour? The duty of...
The Court of Appeal has found that the Upper Tribunal should not have continued to decide an appeal itself when it set aside a decision of the First-tier Tribunal. The case is AEB v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 1512. Background AEB was convicted of...
Hot on the heels of Celik and Batool comes another case dealing with the complex mess of post-Brexit free movement law. The case is Elais (fairness and extended family members) [2022] UKUT 300 (IAC). You can read more about the cases of Celik and Batool here. In this case, the Upper Tribunal considered...
Legal battles concerning appropriate accommodation for asylum-seekers are not limited to claims concerning the welfare of those seeking asylum. The High Court recently heard injunction applications sought by local authorities against a number of hotels and third-party contractors after they potentially violated planning law when they agreed to house asylum...
The Divisional Court has now published its judgment addressing the Home Office’s breach of the duty of candour in the mobile phone seizures case. It is reported as R (HM, MA & KH) v SSHD [2022] EWHC 2729 (Admin). Earlier posts address the Divisional Court’s main judgment and order. Edis...
In Elmi [2022] EWCA Crim 1428, the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction of a failed asylum seeker who had been found guilty of possessing a false identity document. Elmi had not been advised that he could use the defence of a presumptive refugee under s.31 of the Immigration and...
SGW is a UK-based refugee and Eritrean national. His brother, FGW, is a young person who was trapped in Libya until recently. FGW’s journey to the UK has not been quick, safe or simple. In the case of R (SGW) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Biometrics, family...
The Divisional Court has refused applications for habeas corpus made on behalf of two British women and their children detained in a camp in northeast Syria. The case is C3 and C4 v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs [2022] EWHC 2772 (Admin). A writ is essentially...
The High Court has quashed a decision to refuse entry to the children of an Afghan judge who was relocated to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. The case of R (BAL) v Secretary of State for Defence [2022] EWHC 2757 (Admin) is a rare example of...
This is the story of what might be the longest-running appeal within the UK’s immigration appeal system. The story starts in rather ordinary fashion. AA arrived in the UK on the back of a lorry in early January 2009 when he was a child. He was a young Sunni Kurd...
The Court of Appeal has ruled that the Home Office provided insignificant cash payments to asylum seekers with trafficking claims during the first lockdown. The appeal was brought by the Secretary of State for the Home Department following a defeat in the High Court. The case is JB (Ghana), R...
The Court of Appeal has granted an application made by a woman who was trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, to quash her conviction from November 2009. She was convicted for using a false identity document when attempting to travel to the Netherlands after she had fled her traffickers....
There is no good reason to treat victims of transnational marriage abandonment differently from victims of domestic abuse in the UK. So found Lieven J in the case of R on the application of AM v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 2591 (Admin). Background Avid readers of...
In an unreported case, Upper Tribunal Judge Stephen Smith held that a proportionality assessment should happen in marriage of convenience cases. Secretary of State of the Home Department v Ms Dora Nketia (unreported) 11 Aug 2022 EA/04841/2019 concerns the approach to be taken under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016...
The outcome of an asylum case can sometimes depend not on what the individual person says happened to them but on the general situation in a particular country. The general situation for asylum seekers from several countries is determined by the Upper Tribunal in what are called Country Guidance (CG)...
There are a number of general and individual judicial review challenges to the government’s policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda. To recap, in April 2022 the government announced a Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda for the provision of “an asylum partnership arrangement”. Under this arrangement, asylum seekers...
The High Court has confirmed that the Home Office is obligated to consider exercising discretion to waive or delay the requirement to enrol biometrics before considering an application in R (KA and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 2473 (Admin). Ordinarily, individuals applying for entry...
The European Court of Human Rights has handed down a significant judgment concerning the age-assessment process and rights of child asylum seekers. In Darboe and Camara v Italy (Application no. 5797/17), the court found that the Italian government had breached Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human...
OH v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] UKAITUR JR2021LON001003 concerns the rights of a dependant of an asylum seeker to work in the United Kingdom. OH challenged a decision to refuse his request to work whilst he was a dependant of his wife’s asylum claim. OH and...
The High Court has quashed a decision to refuse entry clearance under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (“ARAP”) on national security grounds. Unfortunately, like all national security cases it is difficult to work out exactly why the Court decided the decision was unlawful. R (ALO) v Secretary of State...
In the recent case of Singh v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 1054; [2022] 7 WLUK 328, the Court of Appeal turned its attention back to the EU law concept of “dependency”. The appeal was brought by an extended family member of an EEA national...
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has held that France breached Article 3.2 of Protocol 4 due to the lack of explanation for and independent scrutiny of decisions not to repatriate two French nationals living in camps controlled in north east Syria. The case is HF...
The appellant in ASA (Bajuni: correct approach, Sprakab reports) CG [2022] UKUT 00222 (IAC) argued that he was born and raised on the Island of Chula until he was 17. He was a citizen of Somalia and of Bajuni origin and therefore he was at risk of persecution on return...
A ticked off Court of Appeal has refused another long residence appeal based on gaps in lawful residence, in a judgment full of digs at the Home Office in Iyieke v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 1147. The court made no bones about the fact...
Too often, we all see clients who are at the mercy of the local authority housing system and who are shifted about from accommodation to accommodation with no real stability in their lives. This treatment only compounds the problems they already face following the reasons they fled their own country, the...
In Celik (EU exit; marriage; human rights) [2022] UKUT 00220 (IAC) and Batool and others (other family members: EU exit) [2022] UKUT 00219 (IAC) the Upper Tribunal considered to what extent human rights arguments can be considered in EU Settled Status appeal. In short: they can be considered where the...
This post is a wrap up of recent Afghan evacuation litigation in the High Court and Court of Appeal covering the cases of: A lot of the issues cross-over so rather than give you a detailed breakdown of each case, I’ll explore the Court of Appeal’s decision in S & AZ first...
In Joseph (permission to appeal requirements) [2022] UKUT 00218 (IAC), the appellant was a national of Trinidad and Tobago who had resided in the UK since 2007. She had a costs order of £400 made against her in 2014, following an unsuccessful judicial review. In September 2019 she made an...
Many predicted that the heady mix of Brexit and COVID-19 would result in litigation, and so it has come to pass. Ending EU free movement law in the middle of a global pandemic – when people faced difficulty travelling, marrying, and getting advice from an immigration lawyer – was bound...
