All Articles: SIAC

Returning a refugee to persecution must be a last resort

An Iranian refugee who, according to MI5, holds an Islamist extremist mindset and is supportive of ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), has won his appeal against revocation of his refugee status. If the Home Office decides to revoke a personâ ...

8th November 2023 By

Guidance in Begum on deprivation decisions is not restricted to national security cases

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 ...

3rd November 2023 By

Security tribunal finds Shamima Begum was trafficked but she loses anyway

Shamima Begum has lost the latest round in her legal battle against the decision to strip her of her British citizenship and exile her abroad. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission that heard her case concluded that she was a victim of traffickin ...

22nd February 2023 By

Victim of brutal domestic abuse loses appeal against deprivation of British citizenship

A mother of three British children has lost her appeal against the decision of Amber Rudd to take away her British citizenship in 2017. The judgment of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) makes for very grim reading.  The woman, anonym ...

10th March 2022 By

Court of Appeal tells SIAC to pay more respect to Home Office on national security

Secretary of State for the Home Department v P3 [2021] EWCA Civ 1642 is about how much SIAC should defer to the Home Secretary’s view about national security concerns. The answer is quite a lot, but not too much. The background to this case is t ...

26th November 2021 By

Three win appeals against losing British citizenship

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) has allowed the appeals of three people who were deprived of their British citizenship following allegations that they had travelled to Syria and posed a threat to national security. The case is C3, C4 ...

22nd March 2021 By

Terrorism suspects are still entitled to immigration bail

In O3 v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] SN/147/2018, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has confirmed that, just like regular immigration detainees, those facing deportation on national security grounds are entitled to a pres ...

14th February 2020 By

Shamima Begum loses statelessness argument against citizenship deprivation

Shamima Begum is a citizen of Bangladesh and so would not be made stateless by being stripped of her British citizenship, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission has held. The main SIAC judgment is Shamima Begum (Preliminary Issue : Substansive) [2 ...

7th February 2020 By

National security court slams immigration lawyers

The secretive court that hears immigration and nationality cases with a national security element has hit out at lawyers for failing to follow its rules. A Special Immigration Appeals Commission practice note, published on 4 December, slams the work o ...

6th December 2019 By

Special court denies British citizenship to relatives of Bashar Al-Assad

Appellants in immigration cases would normally be delighted if a court made an unambiguous finding that the government had acted unfairly towards them. Not so the family of Bashar Al-Assad. In a very unusual judgment, the Special Immigration Appeals C ...

14th November 2018 By

Returning from outside the UK to challenge deprivation of citizenship

What procedure should be followed when someone is deprived of British citizenship, at a time when he or she is abroad, to enable return to the UK to participate in a statutory appeal to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC)? Should judicia ...

22nd January 2018 By