All Articles: Cases

In the latest and last judgment in some fairly complex litigation around the use of hotels to accommodation and other issues, the High Court seems to have finally got to a point with Kent County Council where they accept that they cannot get around the duty to find a placement...

10th June 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal alleging procedural unfairness in a First-tier Tribunal hearing where the judge asked a “significant” number of questions. The court also gave a brief reminder of the importance of counsel raising any issues with judicial conduct during the appeal itself. The case is...

7th June 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

As the Home Office continues to step up enforcement action in the care sector, we have had another sponsor licence revocation decision involving a large care home operator successfully judicially reviewed in the High Court. In R (New Hope Care Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024]...

4th June 2024
BY Jack Freeland

There is nothing wrong with the integrity of the process by which Educational Testing Service (“ETS”) identifies its English language test results as “invalid” or “questionable”, the Upper Tribunal has said. As a result, where ETS provides evidence indicating that the test relied upon by an individual was taken by...

3rd June 2024
BY Keelin McCarthy

The High Court has held that the decision to refuse to grant exceptional case funding for legal aid to a person applying to the Windrush compensation scheme was lawful. The case is R (Oji) v The Director of Legal Aid Casework [2024] EWHC 1281 (Admin). Background to the compensation scheme...

29th May 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

After over two and a half years of children being held in inhumane conditions on Diego Garcia, the Supreme Court of the British Indian Ocean Territories has ruled that key safeguarding provisions of the 1989 Children Act apply to the territories. Background In September 2021, a group of Tamil asylum...

24th May 2024
BY Kristen Allison

A man who had lived in the UK for over 20 years and was married to a British national before the relationship broke down has been unsuccessful in his challenge to an entry clearance refusal on the grounds that he had not received the notice of curtailment. The case is...

22nd May 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The High Court has determined that the Home Secretary’s use of electronic monitoring was unlawful in respect of four claimants and the principles applied in the case will have a wider impact. The court also found that the Home Secretary can lawfully use data collected through electronic monitoring to decide...

21st May 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Upper Tribunal has found the guidance to be used those who cannot travel to enrol their biometrics because it is unsafe to be unlawful. The individual refusal decisions were also quashed. The linked cases are RM and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department JR-2024-LON-000082 and WM...

20th May 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

Following a legal challenge, the small group of Sri Lankan people seeking asylum in Diego Garcia have been granted bail so that they are able to access more of the island beyond the tiny encampment they were kept in previously. We have previously published a post providing the historical context...

14th May 2024
BY Guy Atoun

On 18 April 2024, the Court of Appeal held in ASY & Ors v Home Office [2024] EWCA Civ 373 that damages are payable to those subjected to destitution that amounts to an imminent risk of inhuman or degrading treatment.  The Court of Appeal judgment recognised the existence of a...

8th May 2024
BY Nakita Hedges

The second part of a challenge to the family reunion rules that exclude child refugees from bringing their family to the UK has been dismissed by the High Court. The case is R (DM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees intervening) [2024]...

2nd May 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In Al-Azad v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 407 the Court of Appeal has said that paragraph 322(1A) of the immigration rules (mandatory ground for refusal where false representations are used) applies to an application which has been varied by a later application in which...

1st May 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has rejected a claim that Afghan nationals have been unlawfully treated less favourably than Ukrainians when it comes to the requirement to enrol biometrics as part of an entry clearance application. The case is R (AB) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA...

29th April 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Upper Tribunal has overturned a decision by the First-tier Tribunal to allow the appeal of a couple who were trying to rely on their residence rights under EU law in circumstances where their sponsor had lost his EU citizenship. The case is Secretary of State for the Home Department...

26th April 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In AM (Belarus) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] UKSC 13, in a judgment delivered by Lord Sales, the Supreme Court has held that a man living in the United Kingdom for twenty six years with no immigration status was not entitled to status on human rights...

24th April 2024
BY Colin Yeo

Almost two years after changes were made by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 to the standard of proof, we have our first reported decision from the Upper Tribunal on how the assessment of whether a person’s fear of persecution is “well-founded” should be carried out. The case is JCK...

23rd April 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Secretary has lost a case where it was argued that a refugee who held indefinite leave to remain in the UK should not be permitted to return to the UK based on his right to a private life. The refugee in question had lost his travel document while...

19th April 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has rejected the appeal against deportation of a woman who was sentenced to less than four years and who has lived in the UK for almost 40 years. The court said that it is not necessary for the Upper Tribunal to mention factors when making a...

18th April 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

During judicial review proceedings it has been disclosed that around 80 children were evacuated from Afghanistan and separated from their families and a new route is to be put in place to facilitate the reunion of these families shortly. The case is R (HR & Ors) v Secretary of State...

15th April 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

On 13 March 2024, in AUS v R [2024] EWCA Crim 322, the Court of Appeal quashed the 2010 conviction of a Somali citizen who was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for possession of a false identity document, contrary to s25(1) of the Identity Cards Act 2006. The applicant was...

9th April 2024
BY Colin Gregory

If a European national receives a criminal conviction arising from conduct which took place before the Brexit cut-off date, how can they rely on those previous EU rules in an appeal against deportation? The question is important because of the very large difference in the protections afforded by the previous...

8th April 2024
BY Nick Nason

The Court of Appeal has told the Ministry of Defence that they must reconsider whether an Afghan former Supreme Court judge is eligible for resettlement to the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). This was following an unsuccessful appeal by the Home Secretary and the Defence Secretary...

5th April 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The High Court has dismissed a judicial review raised by an Albanian national challenging a negative reasonable grounds (first stage) decision in his trafficking claim, finding that his employer did not have the intention to exploit him at the point of recruitment. The case is R (MT) v Secretary of...

2nd April 2024
BY Francesca Sella

As reported last week, the Irish High Court has held that the decision to put the UK on the list of safe third countries to return people seeking asylum to has been held unlawful. The case is A & anor v The Minister for Justice, Ireland and the Attorney General...

28th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has upheld the Upper Tribunal’s decision that those who applied for the wrong type of family permit before the end of the Brexit transition period cannot benefit from the EU Settlement Scheme or the EU Withdrawal Agreement. The decision is Siddiqa v Entry Clearance Officer [2024]...

26th March 2024
BY Iain Halliday

On 11 March 2024, the President and Vice-President of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) handed down their decision in R (Mark Nelson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (JR-2023-001472), the first challenge to the Home Secretary’s policy of requiring people on immigration bail to be monitored...

20th March 2024
BY Katie Schwarzmann

The latest instalment of the Akinsanya litigation, which looks at the entitlement of Zambrano carers to leave under Appendix EU has been decided by the High Court in Akinsanya & Anor, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 469 (Admin). Both appellants...

20th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In the context of British nationality law, EEA citizens residing in the UK from 2 October 2000 continue to not meet the definition of “settled”, unless they held indefinite leave to remain or had acquired permanent residence. This was confirmed last week by the Court of Appeal in R (on...

19th March 2024
BY John Vassiliou

The government continues to try to maintain its ability to redact the names of junior civil servants in judicial review proceedings and the courts continue to tell them that they cannot do this. The latest instalment is MTA, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home...

18th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

This was the central question which arose in the context of an unlawful detention claim, initially dismissed by the High Court in Johnson v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWHC 3120 (KB) and then again in the recently reported appeal in Johnson v Secretary of State for...

12th March 2024
BY Nick Nason

In FGF v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Appeal No: SN/01/2022 the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has concluded that it has the power to award costs in reviews, in certain circumstances. Background FGF applied for naturalisation as a British citizen on 27 January 2020. The Home Secretary refused...

5th March 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has gone to town on a First-tier Tribunal decision for the second time in as many weeks, this time allowing an appeal in an asylum claim from an Iranian national. The case is FA (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ...

29th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that the Home Secretary’s “Discretionary Leave” guidance, version 10, published on 16 March 2023 is unlawful to the extent that it excludes victims of trafficking who had been accepted by the Home Office to be a victim before 30 January 2023 and had, before that...

28th February 2024
BY Eva Maria Doerr

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal from Shamima Begum challenging the Special Immigration Appeals Commission’s decision that the deprivation of her British citizenship was lawful. I recommend reading Colin’s write up of that SIAC decision. This decision is Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024]...

26th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In the latest case challenging a decision made under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy, the High Court has quashed the refusal decision on the basis that it was not supported by the evidence that had been provided in support of the application. The case is R (MA) v Secretary...

23rd February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

We previously covered the High Court’s decision that routine redactions of junior civil servants’ names in judicial review disclosure was unlawful, and the Court of Appeal has now agreed with that in R (IAB and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Secretary of State for Levelling...

21st February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The latest in a rash of recent cases displaying poor behaviour on the part of the Home Office is R (Amena El-Ashkar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department JR-2022-LON-002069. This is a decision on an application by the Home Secretary to withdraw undertakings that had been provided to...

16th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

In Zhou & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 81 the Court of Appeal has re-affirmed the high threshold for challenging delays in decision-making by the Home Secretary and the scope of any appeal against a refusal to grant permission for judicial review. Background...

14th February 2024
BY Bilaal Shabbir

In a recent decision, Mohammed Ismael Suliman Abdullah for judicial review [2024] ScotCS CSOH_8, the Court of Session clarified that when a young person is seeking for a court to make a finding in relation to their age in Scotland, the action should be raised as a declarator of age...

13th February 2024
BY Francesca Sella

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