All Articles: Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds government’s right to set child citizenship fees as it chooses
The Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to the level at which the government has set the fees for children to register as British citizens. The court held that the government has been authorised by Parliament to set the level of the fees as it cho ...
2nd February 2022Deportation law up for MORE revision: Supreme Court to hear appeal in HA (Iraq) case
The Supreme Court has circulated a list of cases that it has agreed to hear on appeal in the coming months. The list includes two liberalising deportation rulings from the Court of Appeal, HA (Iraq) and AA (Nigeria) which we hoped had finally put thi ...
21st December 2021Supreme Court overturns expansion of benefits rights for EU citizens
The Supreme Court has overturned last year’s ruling that EU citizens with pre-settled status should be able to claim Universal Credit without having to jump through hoops. The case is Fratila and another v Secretary of State for Work and Pension ...
1st December 2021Government must obey court orders even if invalid, Supreme Court holds
The Supreme Court has this morning handed down judgment in R (Majera) (formerly SM Rwanda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 46. The appeal, as Lord Reed states in his opening sentence, raised a “question of constitutional ...
20th October 2021Fast Track asylum appeals were not necessarily unfair, Supreme Court confirms
The fact that the Detained Fast Track asylum appeal process was systemically unfair doesn’t mean it was automatically unfair in every case decided under it, according to the Supreme Court. The case is TN (Vietnam) [2021] UKSC 41. TN is a Vietnamese ...
22nd September 2021Supreme Court upholds Home Office age assessment policy
The Supreme Court has upheld the policy of treating asylum seekers who claim to be children as adults if two Home Office officials think that the person looks significantly over 18. The case is R (BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Depar ...
2nd August 2021Supreme Court dismisses deportation appeal of man living in UK since he was 9
In Sanambar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 2 the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal against deportation of an Iranian citizen who arrived in the United Kingdom aged nine in 2005. He had committed several knifepoint robber ...
16th July 2021Supreme Court reiterates that a refugee cannot be removed until claim is assessed
The Supreme Court has reiterated that — for now — UK law prohibits removal of a person “who can be understood to seek refugee status” and who has an outstanding asylum claim or appeal. The case is G v G [2021] UKSC 9 and invol ...
19th March 2021Shamima Begum loses case in Supreme Court
Shamima Begum has lost her case in the Supreme Court. This means that she will not be able to return to the UK to argue her main case about whether she should or should not be deprived of her British citizenship. But her main case remains outstan ...
26th February 2021Supreme Court: no additional “exceptional circumstances” test in Zambrano deportation cases
In the case of Robinson (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 53 the Supreme Court has held that there is no “exceptional circumstances” test that applies in EU law to protect a non-EU national carer from depor ...
16th December 2020Supreme Court finds treatment of skilled worker unfair
The Supreme Court held today in R (Pathan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 41 that the Home Office’s treatment of a Tier 2 skilled worker, Mr Pathan, was unfair. Mr Pathan had applied for an extension of his visa as ...
23rd October 2020Tribunal: nullified nullification no barrier to deprivation of British citizenship
Taking away people’s citizenship became a popular pastime for Home Secretary Theresa May. After decades of the power being essentially taboo, associated as it was with Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, it was resurrected with a vengeance after 201 ...
13th May 2020Supreme Court offers hope to seriously ill migrants facing deportation and death
In the case of AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 17 the Supreme Court has widened the protection available to seriously ill migrants facing deportation from the UK and subsequent death for want of medical treatmen ...
1st May 2020Supreme Court says immigration tribunal can decide for itself if appellant was trafficked
In the case of MS (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 9, handed down today, the Supreme Court has confirmed that the immigration tribunal can and must decide for itself whether an appellant was a victim of trafficking. ...
18th March 2020Supreme Court: detention is unlawful if based on unlawful deportation order
The Supreme Court has found in the case of DN (Rwanda) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] UKSC 7 that the detention of a Rwandan man facing deportation was unlawful because the deportation order on which detention was based was itself ...
26th February 2020Unlawful “curfew” amounted to false imprisonment at common law, Supreme Court confirms
In a pointed reminder, perhaps, to those in government threatening to “update” the Human Rights Act, Lady Hale began her Supreme Court judgment in the case of R (Jalloh) v SSHD [2020] UKSC 4 thus: The right to physical liberty was highly p ...
12th February 2020Supreme Court says Zambrano test is usually a simple one
The Supreme Court has found in the case of Patel and Shah v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 59 that the carers of EU citizen children can derive a Zambrano right of residence only where the child will as a practical matter of f ...
16th December 2019Supreme Court finds detention of asylum seekers unlawful
The Supreme Court has confirmed in the case of Hemmati v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 56 that the detention of asylum seekers for their removal to other EU states under the Dublin Regulation was unlawful between 1 January 201 ...
27th November 201912 years a litigant: Franco Vomero case returns to Supreme Court
The Supreme Court handed down its second judgment in the long-running case of Franco Vomero today. The latest instalment is Secretary of State for the Home Department v Franco Vomero [2019] UKSC 35. The facts Mr Vomero is Italian. He moved to the UK a ...
24th July 2019Supreme Court finds UK breached residence rights of hundreds of thousands of EU citizens
The Supreme Court has today dismissed the Home Office appeal in the case of Gubeladze [2019] UKSC 31. The judgment affects hundreds of thousands of EU citizens from the so-called Accession Eight (or “A8”) countries that joined the EU in ...
19th June 2019Supreme Court has to remind tribunal self inflicted torture inherently unlikely
The Supreme Court has had to remind the immigration tribunal that self inflicted torture by proxy (SIBP) is inherently unlikely. Self inflicted torture by proxy is the least worst phrase so far devised for describing the idea — and it really is ...
6th March 2019Supreme Court decides meaning of “precarious immigration status” and “financially independent”
The Supreme Court has allowed the appeal in the case of Rhuppiah v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] UKSC 58. Giving the sole judgment, Lord Wilson holds that a “precarious” immigration status is any status short of Indefin ...
14th November 2018Supreme Court: bad behaviour by parent irrelevant to best interests of children
The Supreme Court has today handed down judgment in four linked cases all concerning the best interests of children who themselves face removal from the UK or whose parent faces removal from the UK. The case is likely to be referred to as KO (Nigeria) ...
24th October 2018Supreme Court delays decision in decades-old refugee resettlement saga
What’s another few months when you’ve been waiting two decades? For the past 20 years, a group of Iraqi and Syrian Kurds have been marooned on a British military base in Cyprus, recognised as refugees but denied settlement in the UK. In R ...
31st July 2018Do unrecognised adoptions confer EU free movement rights? Maybe…
The case of SM (Algeria) v Entry Clearance Officer [2018] UKSC 9 mainly revolved around the question of whether a child adopted abroad, where the adoption is not recognised by an EU member state, could be considered a “family member” under the ...
15th February 2018Supreme Court: Home Office could not impose bail on migrant who cannot lawfully be detained
The Supreme Court yesterday held in the case of B (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] UKSC 5 that the Home Office cannot impose bail conditions on a migrant who cannot be lawfully detained. Or, at least, the Home Office coul ...
9th February 2018Landmark Supreme Court decision overrules historic gender discrimination in British citizenship
The Supreme Court has opened up British citizenship by double descent to all children born to British women in non-Commonwealth countries between 1949 and 1983. Delivering a judgment which makes no attempt to disguise his academic interests as a histo ...
8th February 2018Supreme Court boost for people stripped of their British citizenship
A Supreme Court decision handed down today is good news for people who have had their British citizenship taken away because it was obtained under false pretences. The Home Office has accepted that in most cases, deprivation rather than nullity is the ...
21st December 2017Supreme Court rejects a right to non-contributory benefits for Zambrano carers
In R (HC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2017] UKSC 73 the Supreme Court decided that Zambrano carers are not eligible for non-contributory benefits which have a “right to reside” test. The benefits affected by the decision ...
17th November 2017Article 3 and the extradition of a British national to Taiwan
The Supreme Court in the case of the Lord Advocate (representing the Taiwanese Judicial Authorities) (Appellant) v Dean (Respondent) (Scotland) [2017] UKSC 44 considered the first occasion on which Taiwan has sought to extradite a British national. ...
11th August 2017Supreme Court confirms that burden for proving marriage of convenience rests with Home Office
The Supreme Court has handed down its judgement in the case of Sadovska and another (Appellants) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) (Scotland) [2017] UKSC 54. In unanimously allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that the ...
26th July 2017Supreme Court rules “deport first, appeal later” is unfair and unlawful
In R (Kiarie and Byndloss) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 42 the Supreme Court has struck down “deport first, appeal later” certificates for two foreign criminals. The Home Office had made use of new rules in the ...
14th June 2017Supreme Court upholds Minimum Income Rule of £18,600 to sponsor foreign spouses in MM case
In linked judgments in the case of MM and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 10, known to many as just “the MM case,” the Supreme Court has this morning upheld in principle the Minimum Income Rule which requir ...
22nd February 2017Supreme Court rules Act of Parliament needed to trigger Article 50 and leave EU
The Supreme Court ruled today by a majority of 8-3 that an Act of Parliament is needed for the UK Government to trigger Article 50 and formally begin the process of leaving the EU. Giving the leading judgment the President of the Court, Lord Neuberger ...
24th January 2017Supreme Court criticises complexity of immigration rules (but dismisses case anyway)
The Supreme Court has given judgment in the case of Mirza v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] UKSC 63. The case concerned the effect of section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 as amended and whether it extends leave where an applicant f ...
14th December 2016Hesham Ali and Makhlouf: What is the correct approach to determining deportation appeals?
In the cases of Hesham Ali [2016] UKSC 60 and Makhlouf [2016] UKSC 59 the Supreme Court has, finally, given guidance the correct approach to the determination of appeals against deportation decisions. Both the appeals were dismissed and the Home Offi ...
24th November 2016Supreme Court dismisses deportation appeals
The Supreme Court has handed down the long awaited judgments in Makhlouf v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] UKSC 59 on the impact of deportation on affected children and Hesham Ali v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2016] ...
16th November 2016Supreme Court finds British nationality law discriminatory, allows appeal on human rights grounds
The Supreme Court has decided that the historic failure of British nationality law to confer automatic citizenship on a child born out of wedlock was discriminatory, it has continuing consequences which breached a person’s human rights in a disc ...
20th October 2016