There is a new Practice Direction and a new Practice Statement for the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Both were published yesterday and replace previous versions that applied to both the First-tier and Upper immigration tribunals.
The Practice Direction has rules about:
- Online appeals
- Case management hearings
- Adjournments
- Witness statements
- Expert evidence
- Child and vulnerable witnesses
- Citing unreported decisions
- Starred/country guidance decisions
- Bail applications
- Delegating to tribunal lawyers
- Hearing transcripts/recordings
- Judges’ formal titles
The Practice Statement covers many of the same issues but in more detail. In particular, it includes several annexes on the format and deadlines for documents in:
- An online appeal on the MyHMCTS platform (Annex A)
- An online appeal not using MyHMCTS (Annex B)
- An online appeal by someone who doesn’t have a lawyer (Annex C)
There is supposed to be an Annex D containing guidance on vulnerable witnesses, but it seems to be missing. [Update: there is no Annex D, just an error in the contents which we understand is now being fixed.]
