All Articles: Cases

This week, the Supreme Court brought us the (hopefully) final instalment of the long residence cases, R (Afzal) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 46. Immigration lawyers have followed the long series in this line of cases the way we followed Game of Thrones: they both...

5th December 2023
BY Alex Piletska

The Court of Appeal has dismissed a claim for damages against the Home Secretary for a five month delay in granting refugee status, following a successful appeal, to a person with severe mental health issues. The case is FXJ v Secretary of State for the Home Department & Anor [2023]...

30th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Office must reconsider an application in the now closed Turkish business person route after an poor initial decision to refuse was then compounded by flawed decision making on administrative review and in the subsequent judicial review. The case is R (Ozmen) v Secretary of State for the Home...

29th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The High Court has told the government that they should not be routinely redacting the names of civil servants when disclosing documents in the course of judicial review proceedings. The substantive judicial review challenge is to the Houses in Multiple Occupation (Asylum-Seeker Accommodation) (England) Regulations 2023 which exempts asylum accommodation...

23rd November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against the deportation of a mother with a British citizen child, finding that their separation would not be “unduly harsh”. The case is FN (Burundi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWCA Civ 1350. Background The appellant is a...

22nd November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has agreed with the High Court and dismissed an appeal on a point of statutory interpretation regarding when the right of abode was acquired through a person’s parent. The case is Indran Murugason, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department...

21st November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has sent a case back to the Upper Tribunal for reconsideration after a failure to properly consider article 8 and the making of a material error in relation to the appellant’s husband’s nationality. The case is Gurdeep Kaur v Secretary of State for the Home Department...

20th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal from the Upper Tribunal (IAC) against the refusal of an asylum claim by an Iraqi man whose claim was partly based on a risk of violence because of his relationship with his girlfriend. The case is ASO (Iraq) v Secretary of State...

17th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Supreme Court has today held that Rwanda is not a safe country and that it would be unlawful for refugees to be removed there. The government’s appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgment has been dismissed. Lord Reed, giving the court’s judgment, emphasised the non-political nature of the court’s role,...

15th November 2023
BY Colin Yeo

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal where it was argued that evidence from an earlier judicial review should not be admitted to proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal due to late disclosure by the Home Office. The case is Kanhirakandan v The Secretary of State for the Home Department...

14th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the government’s appeal in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v AT (AIRE Centre and Independent Monitoring Authority intervening) [2023] EWCA Civ 1307, meaning that people with pre settled status under Appendix EU are able to access universal credit in circumstances where they...

9th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

Permission has been granted in a judicial review case where an Albanian man claiming asylum had his claim certified on the basis that he was from a ‘safe country’, meaning that he was not allowed to appeal. There was also an unlawful detention claim. The case is R (H) v...

9th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) has concluded that the guidance given by the Supreme Court in Begum v Special Immigration Appeals Commission & Anor [2021] UKSC 7 on how deprivation decisions should be made is not limited to cases involving national security, it also applies where a person has...

3rd November 2023
BY Iain Halliday

The Court of Appeal has reiterated the process that should be followed in article 3 medical treatment cases in relation to the shifting burden of proof, as set out in AM (Zimbabwe) v SSHD [2020] UKSC 17 and in the headnote to the Upper Tribunal’s consideration of the case. This case...

2nd November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The High Court has issued a damning judgment lamenting the Home Secretary’s attempt to defend a decision to place a highly vulnerable person seeking asylum in accommodation in Swindon, where he could not access his support network in London. The case is R (NS) v Secretary of State for the...

31st October 2023
BY Gabriel Tan

Diego Garcia did not have any sort of asylum system in place when it received its first asylum seekers in 2021. Following litigation, the British Indian Ocean Territory has for the first time put in place processes for protection claims to be lodged and decided there. What happens to people...

23rd October 2023
BY Ben Nelson

It appears that we may start seeing changes in overseas visa processing centres soon, after TLScontact was unsuccessful in an attempt to stop the Home Office from entering into a new contract with VFS Global. The case is Teleperformance Contact Ltd v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023]...

19th October 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal in R v Ginar [2023] EWCA Crim 1121 has given guidance on the appropriate criminal sentences for those convicted for the offence of arriving (or attempting to arrive) in the UK without entry clearance, contrary to section 24(D1) of the Immigration Act 1971. The offence was...

18th October 2023
BY Larry Lock

The Home Office has conceded the latest in an increasingly long line of cases challenging the operation of the no recourse to public funds policy. This challenge was to the refusal to lift the no recourse condition from a person with section 3C leave as a student dependant. The case...

16th October 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

A claimant wrongly given a deportation order couldn’t benefit from the Windrush Compensation Scheme because his indefinite leave to remain had already lapsed, the High Court has held in R (on the application of Thompson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 2037 (Admin). The compensation scheme...

11th August 2023
BY Deborah Revill

The Home Secretary’s systematic and routine accommodation of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels is unlawful, the High Court has held. The case, R (on the application of ECPAT UK) v Kent County Council and another [2023] EWHC 1953 (Admin), looks at what happens when local authorities don’t comply with their...

3rd August 2023
BY Deborah Revill

If you married an EU national in the UK after 31 December 2020, you can’t get leave to remain under the EU Settlement Scheme unless you previously had or applied for an EEA residence card or family permit as their durable partner. That remains the case even if you would...

1st August 2023
BY Deborah Revill

In the recent judgment R (HA and Ors) v SSHD [2023] EWHC 1876 (Admin) the High Court (Swift J) found that the Home Secretary failed to meet even her minimalist legal obligations to provide support to destitute asylum seekers. The details of the case make shocking reading, even for those...

1st August 2023
BY John Crowley

A student whose leave was cancelled on arrival was wrongly denied the opportunity to comment on an allegation of falsified English language qualifications. So held the High Court in R (on the application of Tazeem) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1828 (Admin), a case addressing...

28th July 2023
BY Deborah Revill

In a highly technical decision, Osunneye (Zambrano, transitional appeal rights) Nigeria [2023] UKUT 162 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal has concluded that Zambrano appeals may proceed notwithstanding the various Brexit regulations. The official headnote: A decision to the contrary would have come as something of a surprise as it was surely...

25th July 2023
BY Colin Yeo

The Upper Tribunal has provided further guidance on the meaning of historical injustice in the case of Ahmed v SSHD [2023] UKUT 00165 (IAC). “Historical injustice” is the term used to describe the circumstances where an individual has suffered as a result of the wrongful operation (or non-operation) by the...

25th July 2023
BY Jennifer Lanigan

An asylum-seeking mother and her four children were placed in inadequate hotel accommodation for over a year, the High Court has found. The case is R (on the application of SA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1787 (Admin). It is a striking example of a...

20th July 2023
BY Deborah Revill

The Home Office has, following a judicial review challenge for two claimants of Duncan Lewis, published new modern slavery statutory guidance which no longer requires a potential victim of trafficking and modern slavery to produce ‘objective’ evidence corroborating a credible account of their experiences in order to receive a positive...

19th July 2023
BY Thomas Munns

A would-be student stopped on arrival in the UK was wrongly denied a solicitor in interview, the High Court has found in R (on the application of Kumar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1741 (Admin). The facts Mr Kumar arrived at Manchester Airport with a...

14th July 2023
BY Deborah Revill

The child of an EU national is only entitled to stay in the UK after Brexit if they are under 21 or dependent on their parent, the High Court has held. In reaching this conclusion, the court in R (on the application of Ali) v Secretary of State for the...

7th July 2023
BY Deborah Revill

The Home Secretary was entitled to refuse entry clearance to an Afghan interpreter accused of releasing sensitive information and threatening to kill coalition forces. That was the conclusion of the High Court in FMA and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1579 (Admin), the latest...

6th July 2023
BY Deborah Revill

This post reflects on last week’s extraordinary Court of Appeal judgment on the Rwanda policy. You can read our initial take on this here. Appeal to the Supreme Court The government has already announced its intention to seek leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court. The key issues that...

5th July 2023
BY Jed Pennington

The Supreme Court has held that there was no legal obligation to consider the equality impact of excluding Palestinians from the UK’s resettlement scheme for refugees from Syria. The design of the scheme was therefore lawful. The case is R (on the application of Marouf) v Secretary of State for...

3rd July 2023
BY Deborah Revill

The Court of Appeal has found, by a majority, that the Rwanda plan is unlawful as Rwanda is not a sufficiently safe country. In short, the Rwandan authorities are not yet reliably able to sort genuine from non-genuine refugees, and therefore there is too great a risk that genuine refugees...

29th June 2023
BY Gabriel Tan

Last week the Supreme Court found that a financing scheme to help individuals qualify for an Investor visa did not comply with the requirements of the immigration rules. The case is R (on the application of Wang) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 21 and the...

26th June 2023
BY Colin Yeo

A Scottish Fatal Accident Inquiry has held that a number of defects in the system of working in Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre led to the death of a 54-year old Chinese man which could have reasonably been avoided. A Fatal Accident Inquiry, similar to an inquest in England, is an...

15th June 2023
BY Bilaal Shabbir

The High Court has decided it should not invoke its wardship jurisdiction in relation to missing and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. In Article 39 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1398 (Fam), Article 39, a charity promoting and protecting the rights of children in England who are...

13th June 2023
BY Bilaal Shabbir

On 22nd May 2023 the Upper Tribunal published a new country guidance on case on Democratic Republic of Congo, PO (DRC – Post 2018 elections) (CG) [2023] UKUT 00117. PO considers the risk of persecution for political opponents following the election of Felix Tshisekedi in 2019, significantly narrowing the scope...

2nd June 2023
BY Katherine Soroya

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 NHS debt. The case is MXK & Ors, R (On the application...

31st May 2023
BY Josie Laidman

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 judgment in Sicwebu v Secretary of State...

30th May 2023
BY Francesca Sella
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