All Articles: Cases
Unpublished Home Office policy on NHS debts declared unlawful
A judgment in the High Court details multiple examples of unlawful detention of individuals re-entering the UK because an unpublished Home Office policy wrongly suggested officers had the power to stop, detain and question individuals who have unpaid ...
31st May 2023Court of Appeal provides further guidance on unduly harsh deportation test
The unduly harsh test in deportation cases has been subject to litigation for years and we have written about it in several articles, most recently in relation to the Supreme Court case of HA (Iraq). The Court of Appeal has now published its jud ...
30th May 2023The importance of the immigration rules in human rights appeals
Following the abolition of the “not in accordance with the immigration rules” ground of appeal by the Immigration Act 2014, several cases have considered the relevance of the immigration rules in human rights appeals. The Upper Tribunal has neatly ...
30th May 2023Judicial bias against Presenting Officer amounts to an error of law
The Upper Tribunal has set aside a decision of the First-tier Tribunal after finding the hearing was unfair because of the conduct of the judge and the failure to adjourn the case when the Home Office Presenting Officer raised concerns over her person ...
26th May 2023Upper Tribunal provides guidance on correct approach in deprivation of citizenship appeals
The Upper Tribunal has given guidance on the correct approach in deprivation appeals. The headnote to this case, Chimi (deprivation appeals; scope and evidence) Cameroon [2023] UKUT 00115 (IAC), says: Background Ms Chimi was born in September 1977 in ...
22nd May 2023Court finds Afghan resettlement decision was made contrary to policy and without adequate reasons
The High Court has found that the Secretary of State for Defence had not given full and adequate reasons and had acted contrary to its policy when considering an application for settlement in the UK by an individual working with the British embassy in ...
19th May 2023Court of Appeal confirms refusal of habeas corpus for British citizens in Syrian Camp
The appeal of C3 and C4, two British women who travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant who were subsequently detained in a camp in northern Syria, has been dismissed. The case is C3 & Anor v Secretary of State for Forei ...
11th May 2023Judicial review of Windrush compensation dismissed on grounds of abuse of process
The High Court has dismissed a claim for judicial review of a paid settlement sum of £103,501.21 under the Windrush Compensation Scheme on the grounds of abuse of process as the amount offered by the government had already been accepted before pursui ...
10th May 2023Afghan Scheme does not stray from original policy intention by restricting eligibility
The High Court has confirmed that the restrictive parameters of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme put in place in January 2022 do not stray from the intention of the policy as it was originally announced in September 2021. R (GA) v Secretary of ...
5th May 2023Challenge over continued residence dismissed after divorce finalised during imprisonment
A recent appeal concerning third country national’s right to continue residing in the UK after divorce from an EU national and release from prison was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. The case is Balogun v Secretary of State for the Home Department ...
2nd May 2023Court of Appeal re-affirms restrictive parameters of domestic violence provisions in immigration rules
The Court of Appeal has re-affirmed that the domestic violence provisions in the immigration rules are restricted to certain categories of partners and is not open to partners of Points Based System dependants, even if they have in fact suffered domes ...
28th April 2023Upper Tribunal awards significant damages for unlawful Dublin refusal
In a helpful judgment, the Upper Tribunal has awarded £10,500 to a child who was unlawfully prevented from entering the UK from Greece to be re-united with his cousin who had been recognised as a refugee and had lived in the UK for many years. R(MA) ...
25th April 2023High Court dismisses challenge to family reunion rules for refugee children
An exploration of the different entitlements to family reunion for parents and siblings of refugee children and partners and children of adult refugees was recently heard in a judicial review that highlights the barriers to family reunions in the immi ...
20th April 2023“Model example” of Article 8 balancing exercise in High Court extradition case
Despite strong public interest considerations in favour of respecting extradition agreements, the High Court has decided that a Polish national who came to the UK as a fugitive eight years ago will not be extradited. The case is Dobrowolski v District ...
13th April 2023European Court announces challenge against Rwanda removal policy as interim injunction expires
The European Court of Human Rights has given formal notification to the UK government of an application by an Iraqi asylum-seeker (anonymised as NSK) challenging his removal to Rwanda. They also found that several of the Rule 39 interim measures to pr ...
12th April 2023Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 ouster clause found effective
The High Court has upheld the effectiveness of the ouster clause in the Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022, which ousts the jurisdiction of the courts in Upper Tribunal permission to appeal decisions except in very limited circumstances. The decision ...
6th April 2023High Court rejects challenge by Afghan families to hotel move
The High Court has rejected a challenge to the Secretary of State’s decision to move a group of Afghan families rescued from the Taliban in 2021 from one temporary hotel to another temporary hotel. R(HZ) v Secretary of State for the Home Departm ...
4th April 2023Amended data protection exemption for migrants declared unlawful
The High Court has ruled that the government’s second attempt to produce an immigration exemption to the Data Protection Act 2018 is still incompatible with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Only a week after the hearing, the jud ...
30th March 2023“High hurdle” for hotel accommodation challenges?
The High Court has rejected a challenge to the Home Office’s dysfunctional and chaotic accommodation system. The case is MQ, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 205 (Admin). The Claimant and her two you ...
27th March 2023No recourse to public funds policy found unlawful (again)
On 15 February 2023, the High Court yet again found that the Secretary of State’s policy prohibiting migrants from accessing mainstream welfare benefits was unlawful. The policy, known as the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition, was the tar ...
14th March 2023High Court considers how the loss of work may engage article 8
The treatment of a person’s job in human rights claims has been ambiguous and inconsistent in previous High Court decisions, but the judgment in Kulumbegov v Home Office [2023] EWHC 337 (KB) usefully corrals the decisions of Denisov v Ukraine (app. ...
10th March 2023Legal challenges against GPS tagging for people on immigration bail
This post provides an update on legal challenges to the Home Office’s policy and practice of requiring people on immigration bail to wear Global Positioning System (GPS) devices. You can read more about the policy and the legal framework here and he ...
10th March 2023Court of Appeal dismisses appeal against criminalising small boat arrivals
On 1 February 2023 Mr Justice Cavanagh made a ruling, following a preparatory hearing on 14 and 15 December 2022, that asylum seekers can be prosecuted for arriving in the UK without valid entry clearance and for assisting unlawful immigration, contra ...
6th March 2023Home Office’s approach to family reunion applications condemned by immigration inspector
Last week the immigration inspector published a 74-page stinging criticism of the Home Office’s approach to family reunion applications. After three previous inspections the Home Office’s performance had “deteriorated” and the inspecti ...
3rd March 2023Court of Appeal emphasises absence of corroboration is not fatal in asylum cases
The Court of Appeal has granted refugee status in a case turning on the credibility of the appellant’s evidence. MAH (Egypt) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 216 provides helpful guidance on the standard of proof in asylu ...
1st March 2023More bad news from the Upper Tribunal for extended family members of EU citizens
What happens when you accidentally apply for an EU Settlement Scheme Family Permit when you meant to apply for an EEA Family Permit under the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2016? The answer: you are deprived of the benefit of the EU Settlement Scheme a ...
22nd February 2023Not all procedural errors need to be remitted says Upper Tribunal
The Upper Tribunal has watered down the effect of a recent decision of the Court of Appeal in the case of AEB v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 1512. The Upper Tribunal’s judgment reaffirms that where an appellant has ...
20th February 2023Trafficking victims should get leave during their asylum claim
The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that a recognised victim of trafficking who is also an asylum seeker, partly fearing re-trafficking on return as well as political persecution, should have been granted permission to stay (leave to remain) whilst their ...
16th February 2023Differential treatment of Ukrainian and Afghan applications justified on national security grounds
In AB v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Ors [2023] EWHC 287 (Admin), the High Court found that the Home Office did not discriminate against Afghan nationals, compared to Ukrainian nationals, in the context of the biometrics requiremen ...
14th February 2023No damages for unlawful no recourse to public funds policy
The High Court has determined that there are no damages available for people who were subject to the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) policy in the case of Home Office v ASY [2023] EWHC 196 (KB). The policy was declared to be unlawful in R (W, a ch ...
10th February 2023First legal challenge to criminalising asylum seekers reaches Court of Appeal
On 1 February 2023, the Court of Appeal heard an appeal against a preliminary ruling that asylum seekers can be prosecuted for arriving in the UK without a valid entry clearance. The case is R v. Mohamed and others. The appeal was brought on behalf of ...
7th February 2023Immigration officers don’t have to corroborate your story
Procedural fairness does not require the Secretary of State to take steps to corroborate a person’s account before cancelling their leave for breach of conditions. So held the High Court in R (on the application of Pereira Campos) v Secretary of Sta ...
2nd February 2023Is Chikwamba still relevant?
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 Sec ...
24th January 2023Asylum in the European Courts: a case roundup
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 E ...
23rd January 2023Permission needs to be properly sought for video link evidence from abroad
A judgment in the Court of Appeal confirms that a country’s permission needs to be properly sought before video link evidence can be heard from someone in that country. The case is Raza v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA C ...
20th January 2023