Khadija Akhtar v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 354 (16 April 2024) The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal of Mrs Akhtar who had been resident in the UK for 39 years (since 1985). Elisabeth Laing, Phillips and Males LJJ held that the Upper Tribunal had not failed to consider all the relevant circumstances when reaching its decision under section 117C(6) of Part 5A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and they dismissed Mrs Akhtar’s appeal. Judges Mandalia and Hanson had not erroneously concluded that a foreign criminal had failed to m ..read more

R (DXK, Ivory Coast) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 579 (Admin) (15 March 2024) In these intricate proceedings, an asylum seeker and new mother known as “DXK” who was a national of the Ivory Coast born in 1986 sought judicial review of the system of allocation of asylum accommodation provided by the SSHD as it related to pregnant and new mother asylum-seekers (“PNMAS”). Granting DXK’s judicial review application, Paul Bowen KC (sitting as deputy high court judge) held that the SSHD was in breach of his public sector equality duty under section 149 of the Equality Act ..read more

R (Roehrig) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 240 (12 March 2024) The Court of Appeal has held that a child born to a French national mother who was ordinarily resident in the UK while she was exercising her right of free movement as a worker had not automatically acquired British citizenship at birth under section 1(1)(b) of the British Nationality Act 1981 as the child of someone “settled” in the UK. In so concluding, the Court of Appeal held that the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2000 were “immigration laws” which subjected the mother to a rest ..read more

Statement of Changes in the Immigration Rules HC 590 introduces much higher new minimum income requirements (MIR) which were announced by the Home Office on 4 December 2023 in what the Home Secretary James Cleverly called his “five-point plan” to reduce immigration. The spouse/partner visa MIR will initially rise to £29,000 on 11 April 2024 and then incrementally increase to £34,500 sometime later in 2024, and then ultimately to £38,700. Overall, Statement of Changes in the Immigration Rules HC 590 introduces changes primarily concerning the MIR, Skilled Worker route, the EU Settlement S ..read more

R (Akinsanya & Anor) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 469 (Admin) (11 March 2024) Eyre J has held that before Brexit, the right to reside in the UK available to carers under the decision in Ruiz Zambrano v Office National de l’Emploi (C-34/09) [2012] QB 265 had not been excluded where the TCN carer had a realistic prospect of obtaining leave to remain under another provision. The Zambrano right was only excluded where the carer had been granted leave to remain under another provision. To the extent that the the EUSS under the Immigration Rules Append ..read more

Siddiqa v Entry Clearance Officer [2024] EWCA Civ 248 (14 March 2024) The Court of Appeal has held that the Upper Tribunal had not erred in finding that where the extended family member of an EU national had sought to enter the UK by applying for a family permit under the EU settlement scheme rather than an EEA permit under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016, regulation 8, the ECO had not been under any legal duty to consider the said application as if it had been made under the Regulations. The appellant Ms Tanjina Siddiqa appealed against a decision of the Upper Tribu ..read more

Ullah v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 201 (06 March 2024) In a case raising an elementary issue of procedural fairness, the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal of Mr Ullah—a Pakistani national—against the UT’s erroneous decision to dismiss his appeal reversing the FTT’s first instance decision to allow his appeal from the SSHD’s decision to make an order to deprive him of British citizenship. The appeal arose out of the FTT’s finding that Mr Ullah, who had committed criminal offences, did not act dishonestly when he answered “No” to a question on Form AN asking whe ..read more

Begum v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 152 (23 February 2024) The Court of Appeal has held that the SSHD had not erred in depriving Shamima Begum of her British citizenship pursuant to section 40(2), on grounds of conduciveness to the public good, of the British Nationality Act 1981 after she had travelled to Syria at the age of 15 and aligned herself with the militant group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The mere fact that there was a credible suspicion that Shamima Begum had been trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation d ..read more

Zhou & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 81 (07 February 2024) The Court of Appeal has held that UT Judge Frances had not erred in refusing a family permission to seek judicial review of the SSHD’s almost three-year delay in making a decision in respect of their applications for leave to remain in UK. The SSHD’s deferral of a decision, pending the outcome of a National Crime Agency (“NCA”) investigation and charging decision in respect of allegations of money laundering relating to the father, was not unlawful, irrational or unreas ..read more

FA (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWCA Civ 149 (22 February 2024) The Court of Appeal has held that the UT should have concluded that the FTT had failed to apply the current Iran country guidance cases to the appellant FA’s case, who was a Kurdish National of Iran who claimed to have left Iran illegally on foot, and claimed to have got married en route to the United Kingdom. He had entered the United Kingdom on 4 December 2019 and then claimed asylum. The SSHD rejected his claims for asylum and for humanitarian protection. The appeal was remitted to a different jud ..read more